


baby steps

by Mystrothedefender



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Autistic Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Sexual Roleplay, autistic john/joker, i mean kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-04-13 20:48:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 46,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14120502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystrothedefender/pseuds/Mystrothedefender
Summary: Snippets of Joker settling into life as a vigilante and civilian with Batman by his side.There's no real set plot to this. All nsfw chapters are named.





	1. Chapter 1

Batman climbed out of the Batmobile, slowly as not to hurt his wrist further.

Joker followed him out, it’d been months and still he was made giddy by riding in it, it was sweet.

Joker skipped towards the Batcomputer, the usb they’d found in his hand, happy and ready to get to work.

Surprisingly enough Joker seemed quite good at the technical and clerical side of vigilante work.

He was full of surprises.

Batman however made his way to the medical area.

“Bats?” John called from across the room, his head whipping round rapidly to gain sight of him, eventually stopping at the sight of Batman at the medical centre.

“I-I got caught up in…” he trailed off into a soft chuckle and walked over towards Bruce.

Batman pulled off his cowl and then his gauntlet, flexing his fingers and watching the way they shook.

There was only a scratch on it, but it was already bruising.

Joker came to his side, looking him up and down, “Did you hurt yourself?” He grabbed his hand, looking down at it. “Why didn’t you tell me? What did we say about secrets?”

“I didn’t think it was this bad,” Bruce said quietly, almost to himself.

John felt the wrist up and down, pouting softly, “Well it’s not broken. It just needs a daddy-kiss and you’ll be as right as rain.”

He pulled Batman’s hand to his mouth and gave it a soft kiss.

Bruce winced a little at the movement, raising his eyebrow as Joker kissed him.

“John,” he said assertively.

Joker looked up at him, recoiling a little at his tone. “Sorry,” he let go of Bruce’s hand, “Boundaries…” he chuckled weakly, “I forget, you straight boys are so touchy, or, you know, _not_ touchy.”

“Straight boys..?” Bruce replied with a smirk.

Joker nodded, “You, Gordon… uh… Do I know anyone else? Harvey?” He smiled suddenly, “I _accidentally_ touched Gordon’s ass the last time we met up and boy was he mad.”

Bruce chewed his lip for a moment, trying to decide how to proceed, “John… You do know I’m not straight, right?”

Joker sputtered and laughed, taking a step back, “You’re not?” he looked Bruce up and down, “How intriguing.”

Bruce smiled weakly, closing his eyes and letting out a soft sigh, “Joker, I have explicitly told you how I feel about you many, many times.”

Joker put his hands on his hips, “Well, you-you’ve told me that you care about me and-and… I thought you meant in a _friend_ way.” He shook his head, “Everyone knows Famous Billionaire Bruce Wayne is a ladies man. You had the whole _thing_ with Catwoman.”

He growled the last word, looking away.

“I didn’t have much of a ‘thing’ with Catwoman,” Bruce corrected quickly, “She was awful to me.”

Joker rolled his eyes, “ _Sure_.”

“And, in case you didn’t know, John, it is possible for people to like both men and women.”

Joker shifted on his feet, the pout returning to his lips, “I know, I am one of those people.” He smiled again, “I just never took you for one. Why weren’t you more clear with me, Bruce?” He gestured to him, “This is _exactly_ the same as keeping a secret from me.”

Bruce shook his head, “No it isn’t, John. I assumed you’d guessed, I don’t exactly hide it.”

Joker hummed to himself, glancing away for a moment. Eventually his eyes returned to Bruce. “So… What does that mean for us..?”

Bruce sighed softly. It was hard for him to put it into words in a way that wouldn’t be overwhelming to John. He was still a little unstable, just a few months out of Arkham, Bruce had only recently let him come out on rounds with him.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything that you’re not ready for,” he settled on saying, a gentle and hopefully authentic looking smile on his lips.

Joker chuckled weakly, looking Bruce up and down again, “Still coddling me, eh, Bruce..?” He let out a soft sigh that echoed Bruce’s. “I don’t know if I’m sure what you see in me.”

“You want some… declaration of love..?”

Joker shrugged playfully, cocking his head a little, “If you’ve been pining over me for this long you must have a list.”

Bruce smiled, “Not a long one.”

“I’d still love to hear it.”

Bruce leaned back against the medical table, paying no mind to the equipment clinking behind him.

“Well… You’re very interesting, intelligent, and you always try your hardest. You know what you think is right and you defend it to the point of almost killing yourself.”

Joker smirked, “So you like me because I’m like you..?”

Bruce shook his head, “We’re similar but, I don’t know, you have a different way of thinking to me, it’s very refreshing and challenging, in a nice way of course. You always keep me thinking, and I love that.”

No sooner had Bruce finished the sentence Joker stepped forward, putting his hand to Bruce’s face and pulling him into a soft kiss.

Bruce let his eyes flutter shut as their lips pressed together.

He could say one thing for sure now, John did have very soft lips.

“You always do something unexpected,” Bruce said quietly as their kiss ended.

Joker chuckled as he pulled away, his usually pale face now shockingly red.

His eyes were slightly red too.

“Are… Are you crying, John?” He asked, feeling slightly panicked. He hadn’t wanted to overwhelm him.

Joker let out another soft laugh, his hand darting to his eyes to wipe them. “I’m fine, Bruce.” He shook his head, smile wide on his face, “I never thought I’d… You’re just so nice to me, I can’t stand it,” he chuckled again, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Do you need some time alone?” Bruce asked softly, straightening himself up as if readying to leave.

Sometimes John did get overwhelmed, adjusting to life outside was hard for him, it’d been suggested that whenever this happened he had space and time for himself so he could calm down. He had a room filled with soft toys and comic books, there was nothing in there that could cause him harm, it was specifically for calming down and feeling safe.

After 10 seconds or so Joker looked back up at him, “No, I’m…” he let out a long slow exhale, speaking slowly, “I’m ok, I’m just very happy.” He chuckled again, “How did this not happen sooner?”

Bruce shrugged, “I wasn’t about to come on to you, not with all you’ve been through.”

“So you waited for me to make the first move?” Joker smiled, shaking his head, “We all know how good I am at that!”

Bruce raised a hand, “You’ve grown a lot since then. You did very well here, I think.”

“You didn’t hit me in the face,” Joker nodded, “It’s definitely an improvement.”

Bruce nodded in return. “So what did you want to do?”

Joker shook his head, “I don’t know, really, I didn’t think I’d get this far.”

“Ok,” Bruce said softly, “What do you want to do right now?”

Joker let out another slow exhale, “I want to…” he looked over at the Batcomputer, “I want to go and download those files.”

Bruce nodded in confirmation, “Ok, do you want me to accompany you?”

Joker glanced down at Bruce’s wrist, “Uh, no, I think you might want to tend to your wrist,” he smirked, “The daddy-kisses don’t seem to have helped as much as I thought they would.”

Bruce looked down at his wrist, it did seem to have swollen a little. He nodded, “Ok, I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”


	2. Chapter 2

Bruce walked down the stairs to the Batcave. He stopped half way and sat down, looking down across the cave.

John was sitting at the computer, looking through the files they’d collected, they’d almost cracked this case.

He was whizzing through the folders and pictures, scribbling notes. He seemed so happy. Filled with life.

It was good to see him like this, after everything. He was trying so hard, and he was enjoying himself.

It was good to see his progress.

Every day he did a little better.

Watching him was nice.

Having so much life in the house was lovely.

After a few minutes he got back to his feet, walking down and approaching John.

“Brucie,” John cooed, “You know I know you watch me, I get an alert when the door to the cave opens.”

Bruce bit his lip, “You looked like you were making progress, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

John smirked, “Oh I am on a _roll,_ Brucie! It’s crazy. I isolated the fingerprints we found at the drop site and I cross referenced them with the ones at the crime scenes.” His eyes widened and he threw his hands out in an excited gesture, “3 matches, Bruce! 3!” he laughed loudly, “We’ve got a bad boy on our hands, and he’s _not_ smart.”

Bruce smiled, “That’s great, John,” he shook his head weakly, “I’m so proud of you.”

John raised an eyebrow, “Don’t flatter me, Bruce.”

“I’m not trying to, I am proud of you,” Bruce reached out, giving John’s arm a soft playful shove, “You’ve done so much to help me out lately, I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

John nodded, glancing away, his smile dropping slightly, “I know you’ve been struggling since Alfred left,” the smile sprung back to his face, “I’m glad I could help, I like that I’m the one you’re counting on now,” he chuckled weakly, “I feel so important. It really helps, I feel… worth something.”

“It’s good for you to have purpose in your life.”

John nodded, “Yeah, I feel like I have a life now. A _real_ life.”

Bruce’s smile softened, “I’m glad.”

John smiled and let out a soft huff, turning back to the computer, “So now we just need to catch them,” he squirmed on his feet, “Stakeout?!”

Bruce let out a soft chuckle, “I’m sure we can arrange that.”

John let out a squeal, “Yay!” he jumped up and down, clapping happily.

“You know stakeouts require you to be quiet and still for a long period of time.”

John waved his hand dismissively, “It’ll be fine, we can… eat fast food and play cards.”

Bruce let out a soft huff, “Fine, we’ll make a night of it.”

“Tonight?”

Bruce nodded, “The sooner the better.”

John squealed again, “Oh this is amazing! I feel giddy, like a school girl, our first real date,” he reached out to give Bruce a playfully soft punch on the arm, grinning widely.

Bruce smirked, “Pardon?”

John shrugged, “Well,” he smirked, “We’ll need a cover story.”

He swayed on his feet for a moment, Bruce looked him up and down, assessing Johns tone.

“Sounds pretty casual. Good way to start, I think.”

John smiled and nodded, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” He rubbed his arm nervously, “After uh, Harley and everything… Don’t wanna get overwhelmed.”

Bruce nodded, “Ok, we’ll meet up at the car in,” he shrugged, “2 hours? Just after dusk.”

John nodded in return, looking down at his watch, “Ok! I’ll go pack.”

“Don’t bring too much.”

…

It was cramped in the car. It would be fine if Batman was on his own, but the Batmobile wasn’t really built for two people, let alone two people fast food and an overnight bag.

John hadn’t exactly listened to Bruce when he’d told him to pack light, but Bruce didn’t mind, everything had an explanation. He’d even brought one of his comfort toys; a small purple elephant plush, just in case he needed something to help him calm down.

They’d be fine, luckily they’d have the opportunity to stretch their legs occasionally, Joker would be able to take a short walk to cool down. They had some tech which allowed them to see and hear through walls, so they could park a short way away, out of the building’s line of sight.

“What time did you say they usually meet up?” Batman asked, putting on the goggles.

Joker looked through his own pair, “Somewhere between 10pm and 1am usually, I think they change it every night.”

“As soon as the first guy arrives I’ll hack his phone, see if I can’t find out when the rest of them are arriving.”

“Ooh, good idea babe, uh, Batsy,” he looked over at Batman briefly, letting out a soft chuckle, “Batsy-babe.”

Batman let out a similar but smaller chuckle, “I don’t know how I feel about that as a pet name.”

Joker shrugged, looking back towards the building, “I’ll keep trying them out.”

“Nothing that people can use to figure out my secret identity.”

Joker rolled his eyes, “Half of Gotham knows… But ok, Batsy-babe can be bedroom only.”

Batman looked over at him, his mouth lulling open slightly.

They’d never talked about that before, not even a passing mention.

Joker turned his eyes to meet Batman’s, giving a slow wink.

Batman felt himself stutter a little, “I uh… I didn’t know we were there yet.”

Joker shrugged, “Maybe not yet, but in due course.”

Batman nodded, “Of course… I don’t want to rush anything, I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable.”

“I know, Bats,” Joker said, mimicking Batman’s nod, “You’ve made that very clear and I agree with you.” He smirked, “It’s not like I’m going to ride you right here in the car… in… a few months, maybe.”

Batman nodded again. “I won’t get my hopes up, but,” he swallowed hard, “I… I am looking forward to it.”

Joker blushed, stifling a laugh, “Oh, me too, it’s going to be good. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“ _Really?_ ”

Joker nodded sheepishly, letting out another nervous laugh, “You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

Batman looked back at the building, taking a moment to answer. “I have,” he chewed the inside of his lip, “I can’t help thinking about it sometimes.”

“I know you’ve seen me naked a couple of times,” Joker said quietly, busying his hands with his plush toy, “I’ve seen you naked too.”

Batman smiled, “Then at least we know what to expect.”

“I’ve got a couple of fantasies,” Joker said, still quiet, as if he were talking to himself, “certainly helped make them more realistic.”

Batman reached out a hand and placed it on Joker’s knee, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he reminded him, “You don’t want to get overwhelmed, remember.”

Joker nodded, “Yeah, yeah… I’m ok.” He gave his plush a hard squeeze, “I’m ok. I’m ok, really… I wish I could be ok sooner. Asking you to wait so long feels _cruel_.”

“Don’t,” Batman stated. “You’re recovering. Don’t feel bad about it. I don’t mind waiting.”

Joker smiled and nodded. “Thankyou, Bruce.” He let out a soft sigh, “I love you.”

Batman smiled back at him, “I love you too.”

Joker looked down at Batman’s hand still on his knee, “We should get back to work, someone should turn up soon.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really happy with this chapter, but eh, maybe it's because I didn't write this chapter at 1am?

Bruce sat on the sofa, his eyes on the tv, John was sat next to him. He seemed even more interested in the news than Bruce was, he kept rocking back and forth on the chair, clasping his hands together, giggling every time he were mentioned.

He leaned against Bruce, giving him a playful shove, “Buddy, look, it’s us! Why aren’t you more excited!?”

Bruce looked away from the tv, leaning back against John, studying the glee on his face. “You get used to it.”

John shook his head, “I never will…”

He put his feet up next to him on the sofa, wrapping his arms around Bruce’s, “Oh look at that… us working together. We look so cool, man!” He shook his head, “I wish I could feel that confident all the time.”

Bruce pulled his arm from John’s grasp, placing it round his shoulders and pulling him closer. “We do look good don’t we. We make a good team.”

He paused for a moment; John had stilled a little in his arms and gone quiet.

Slowly he moved his arm from John’s shoulders, “Sorry,” he said quickly, “did that make you uncomfortable? It just seemed natural.”

John pulled away from him, “It’s ok,” he glanced away and cleared his throat, he hung his head slightly, “Damn it. I can’t help it, I’m…”

“Recovering,” Bruce stated firmly.

John smiled weakly, looking up at Bruce again, “No, no,” he glanced away again, “well, yes,” he chuckled, “but that’s not what I meant.”

“Oh. Then what did you mean..?”

He blushed. Bruce looked him over, he couldn’t really tell what was wrong, John seemed… nervous, and angry. It wasn’t a good combination.

“Bruce,” John said quietly, “you know that I can’t remember anything from my life before Arkham.”

Bruce nodded.

“That means that whatever we do… it’s the first time I’m doing it.”

Bruce nodded again. “I… I know,” he frowned softly, “What about with Harley..?”

John laughed softly, shaking his head, “Nothing really happened between us, I confessed to her and she got mad and,” he shook his head, “It was unrequited and all she did was manipulate and use me,” he let out a soft growl. “I rushed into things with her, I let her know how I felt far too soon.”

“Don’t talk like that. You were… young and naïve. You had her best interests at heart and you thought she felt the same about you, it’s not your fault in any way.”

John rolled his eyes, “Young and naïve… It was what… a year and a half ago,” he chuckled almost mockingly.

“You’ve done a lot of growing in that time.”

“I know, I know,” he shook his head, holding up his hand, “that’s not the point anyway.” He turned on the sofa to face Bruce, “Anything I do with you is the first thing I’m doing, it’s my first time for everything, and if I’m not in the driver’s seat I just feel so uncomfortable.”

Bruce nodded, “I understand. That’s one of the reasons we’re going slowly.”

“Yes, and you’re being lovely and everything, but I,” he shook his head, “God, I hate it. I hate being treated like a kid, I hate the constant worry that something might be too much for me,” he let out a small huff, “I’m an adult man. I shouldn’t feel like that.” He smiled at Bruce, “And I love you, Bruce, I really do,” he reached forward to clasp Bruce’s hands, “When you touch me I feel like I’m on fire. I want to just feel that, I don’t want all that extra stuff too. I’m like thirty or something and I’m a virgin as far as I know, I want it over with.”

Bruce raised John’s hands to kiss them. “You’re doing fine. The other stuff will die down eventually.” He rubbed John’s hand with his thumb, “You’re getting impatient, I can understand that, but pushing yourself won’t help anything.”

“When you touch me I worry that I’m going to snap or something. I really want to…” he let out a soft growl, “Y’know… _be intimate._ But I know that if I do then it’ll probably be too much and I’ll freak out. The last thing I want is to have a breakdown while we’re making out or whatever. That would really kill the mood.”

Bruce chewed his lip, he knew that John’s candour meant he was talking from the heart. “I don’t know what to suggest. But I do know that I wouldn’t be comfortable doing anything that might endanger you or your recovery,” He smiled softly, his eyes flitting down to their entwined hands, “You seem ok with this.”

John’s eyes moved to their hands, he paused and nodded, “Yeah, but it’s on my terms, and holding hands is a _long_ way from sucking dick.”

Bruce cleared his throat, it was hard for him to keep his cool as much as he’d like with John making comments like that. “It still proves your progress.”

“It is not,” John said with a shake of his head, “I took your hand, you didn’t take mine, like I said; it was on my terms, that’s different.”

He squeezed his hand slightly, hoping to reassure him.  “You know I love you.”

“Yeah, I know,” John huffed, pouting and flopping back on the sofa. “I love you too. You’ve done so much for me and you’re being so fucking _perfect_. I want to _show_ you how much I love you. Repay you for all your kindness and all that sappy stuff.”

“That’s not how you repay me, you repay me by getting better,” Bruce said softly. “Perhaps if I actively try to treat you more like an adult that’ll help?”

John smiled, “And make me feel attractive so I’m more comfortable with intimate stuff.”

Bruce nodded, “I can certainly do that.”

After a moment of silence John shook his head. “…I just feel bad, Bruce, for both of us. We haven’t even kissed since that first time down in the cave.”

Bruce gently ran his thumb over John’s hand, moving in small circles which he knew John found comforting. “I keep telling you, don’t feel bad. You said you need things to be on your terms, make them be on your terms. If you want to kiss me then kiss me.”

John shook his head weakly, “As much as I liked kissing you it was a bit much for me, I barely slept that night, and not for good reasons.”

Bruce felt his stomach clench a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“I feel broken,” John said quietly.

There was so much pain and truth in his voice, Bruce had never heard anything like it.

He frowned, the discomfort in him turning to slight anger. “You’re not broken, John,” he stated, “You’re recovering.” He shook his head, John feeling like this was unacceptable to him, he didn’t want to cause him any more hurt, but he was just by being with him.

“I want to come with you to your therapy sessions.”

John turned his head to look Bruce in the eye, “With Dr Leland?”

Bruce nodded, “I think we should arrange a session with her specifically for this. She can give us some advice on how to handle everything.”

“Well, I’ve… I’ve already talked to her a little about it.” John sat up straight, folding his arms in his lap. “She’s a big fan of ‘waiting till I’m comfortable with everything’.”

“I want to talk to her myself. She can tell me what to do to help you feel comfortable. We can help each other.”

John smiled, “Why didn’t you suggest this before.”

Bruce shrugged, “I didn’t want to feel pushy.”

“What changed your mind?”

Bruce glanced down at their hands again, “I can’t stand seeing you hurting like this, I should be helping you. I want to help you.”

John smirked and gave Bruce a soft shove, “Yeah right, you just want to get your dick wet,” he winked and laughed lightly.

“That’s not it at all,” Bruce said to reassure him. He knew John made jokes and laughed like that when he was nervous.

“Thankyou, Bruce.” John shifted where he sat, he lifted his legs up on the sofa next to him again and leant against Bruce, he took Bruce’s hand and draped it over his shoulder, moving Bruce’s hand to his hip.

Bruce frowned softly. “I thought this was too much for you.”

“It’s on my terms, I’ll be ok,” John said with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

John took Bruce’s hand and squeezed it tight as they walked through the halls of Arkham Asylum.

John seemed happy, even here.

Especially here.

He’d told Bruce before that this place was his first real home. Bruce couldn’t imagine feeling comfortable in a place like this.

“I want to pop into the rec room on our way past, just pop my head in to show off my hot new boyfriend,” he chuckled.

Bruce looked down the hall towards the rec room, there was a guarded door in the way. “I don’t think we have clearance for that.” He glanced at John, noticing the disappointment in his face. “We’ll tell Leland to tell them, she can really play up how well we’re doing.”

John chuckled again, “That sounds great. She’s not even allowed to tell them we’re having problems, Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“We’re not really having problems,” Bruce said to clarify.

John nodded and squeezed Bruce’s hand again. “Here we are,” he said as they reached Dr Leland’s door, giving it a soft knock.

“I’ve got to say I’m looking forward to talking to her,” Bruce said, a genuine tone to his voice, not just because he wanted to help John but also because he wanted to get a feel for the person who had say in how John handled his life now, she’d helped him so much already but he wanted to make sure she still had his best interests in mind.

John hopped up and down on the spot as the door opened, pulling Dr Leland into a tight hug. “Joan! It’s good to see you.” He pulled away from her and gestured to Bruce, “Joan, this is my boyfriend, Bruce.”

“We’ve met,” Dr Leland said to John. “It’s good to see you both.”

She turned to Bruce, “I knew you two would become fast friends but I had no idea you’d get _this_ close.”

“Life’s full of surprises,” Bruce said with a smirk.

Dr Leland lead them into the therapy room, it was a lot nicer than the ones Bruce had previously seen at Arkham, it had an actual couch rather than metal chairs drilled into the floor.

John and Bruce filed through and sat next to each other on the couch. As they sat John turned and looped his legs over Bruce’s.

Dr Leland looked between them. “So what is it that you actually wanted to discuss today, was there anything specific?”

There was a moment of silence, Bruce wasn’t sure if he should say anything or wait for John to speak first, he assumed John was thinking the same thing.

“We wanted to talk about my intimacy issues,” John said with a smile, seeming quite happy with the uncomfortable atmosphere. “You know, the _physical_ ones.”

Dr Leland leaned forward in her chair, “I wasn’t aware you had physical intimacy issue, John.”

The statement sounded fake, probably to coax John to explain it in his own words.

“You hugged me just now,” Leland added.

John shook his head, “That’s different. That’s a friendly hug.”

“How exactly is that different?”

John laughed softly, “Oh, you know,” he said with a wave of his hand, “It’s platonic.”

“So, it’s specifically non-platonic expressions of affection that you find trouble you?”

Bruce thought to himself about mentioning John’s panic attack after their kiss, he decided not to mention it, it wasn’t his place.

“That’s right,” John confirmed, “And it’s pissing me off,” he growled softly as he spoke. “I want to have a nice romantic night in with my boyfriend, but I can’t! He can’t even touch me without me tensing up, it’s _gross_.”

Bruce nodded absently, thinking about John’s reaction made his stomach twist.

“Gross you say? Why’s that?”

“Um,” John said poignantly, “Because it’s _wrong_? I want to be filled with passion, not _anxiety_. It’s disgusting.”

Dr Leland nodded, turning her head to Bruce for the first time. “How do you feel about it, Bruce? You can speak freely here, don’t worry, say whatever’s on your mind.”

Bruce took a deep breath, trying to word his feelings in his head. “Well, I…” he smiled, almost smirking, “It doesn’t fill me with any kind of positive emotion to know that when I touch him he feels disgusted.”

“Not with you, Bruce,” John interjected quickly, “With myself.”

“That’s true, John,” Dr Leland said, holding up a hand, “But you’re feeling disgust for yourself when Bruce is trying to make you feel good about yourself.” She let out a short exhale, “Imagine you make… a cake for Bruce, you put all that effort in, thinking about how much he’ll like the cake, but he doesn’t like it because it’s not the flavour he likes.”

John’s smile dropped, “That would make me feel awful…”

“Well that’s essentially how Bruce is feeling now, except of course physical gestures replace the cake.”

She turned to Bruce, “But at the same time, we can’t force John to like the metaphorical cake you’ve made him.”

Bruce nodded, glancing over to John, he seemed quite intrigued by the metaphorical cake.

“By which I mean you can’t push him to accept physical intimacy.”

Bruce nodded again, hoping that his silence hadn’t lead Leland to believe he didn’t know what she meant, and that she was just clarifying for clarifying’s sake. “So what do you suggest we do?”

“I suggest that you make a different type of cake. Find another sort of intimacy to compensate for the traditional sexual intimacy you’re missing out on.”

Bruce felt himself blush at the mention of sex. He glanced at John and saw it’d had a similar effect on him.

“What kind of thing do you suggest?” Bruce forced himself to ask.

Leland shrugged, “Well I can’t say for sure what type of thing John will be comfortable with. Though I can suggest a few things.” She paused for a moment to think, “Well… Maybe non physical forms of sex, verbal role play without touching each other is something I think you might both get on with. Something where you are in total control of your own body and you can stop at any time.”

It was quite clear that by ‘you’ she meant John.

“It’s very important that it’s a guilt free environment as well, so that no one feels pressured to push themselves.”

“I wouldn’t pressure John into anything,” Bruce pressed quickly, shaking his head to reinforce the statement.

Dr Leland nodded, “I’m sure you wouldn’t, Bruce, but make sure John knows that, keep an eye out for ques that mean he may feel pressured, breathing rate, facial expressions, tone of voice, things like that.”

Bruce nodded, “I’ll make sure to do that.”

John smiled, “Thanks, Doc, we’ll certainly try it.”

Dr Leland smiled between them, “That’s great. I would say ‘let me know how it goes’ however I understand you may not want to tell me the details.”

John shook his head, “Oh, no, Joan, I’ll tell you every sordid detail, don’t you worry.” He glanced over at Bruce, seeing the look of shock on his face, “I’m joking, of course.”

“…We will let you know if it works,” Bruce said sheepishly, “But no details.”

Dr Leland nodded, “Ok, you tell me on your terms.” She straightened up a little, “Is there anything else you need to talk about? I know this is a casual appointment but I do have a few more minutes.”

Bruce shook his head, “I don’t think so, not at the moment at least. I’ll keep your number and if we have any other problems we’ll book a full session.”

“Everything I want to talk about can wait till our usual appointment,” John said with a smile. “…The usual junk.”

“Ok,” Dr Leland confirmed with a nod, “In that case, it’s been nice seeing you both again.” She got to her feet, “Do you need showing out?”

John shook his head, “I know the way like the back of my hand. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“See you on Thursday.” She looked at Bruce, “It was good seeing you again, Bruce, it’s good to know you’re doing well.”

“Thankyou,” Bruce replied, “You too.”


	5. Chapter 5

It was a lovely bright day, for once the sun was out. An interview had fallen through so now John and Bruce both had the entire day to themselves.

“Shall we get a drink?” John suggested as they walked down the street, looking at Bruce from behind his brand-new sunglasses, “It’s such a _nice_ day, I don’t want to go home yet.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed softly, “I have an idea. Isn’t that café near here? Café Triste? The one we went to when we were first working together..?”

John smiled, “I think so, do you want to pay the place a visit?” he chuckled softly, “I bet they’ll be glad to see us again.”

Bruce nodded, thinking back to the scene they had caused the last time. Hopefully they’d let them back in, the bar for bad customer service was a lot lower in Gotham than most other places, so they’d probably be fine.

He lead John round the corner, smiling at the familiar red sign before them.

“What would you like?” he asked, his eyes moving from the sign to John.

John shrugged, “Get me a… triple pump chocolate and toffee frap with vanilla cream and toffee sauce, the biggest size they sell. I’ll find us a table.”

Bruce nodded, his eyes narrowing a little… so much sugar. “I’ll try to remember all that.”

He walked into the café and got in line, looking through the large windows that lined the place, watching John sit at the same table they’d sat at before, it felt like years ago.

It had been a long time. John was making so much progress. He’d been so unsure of himself back then, he was almost a different person now.

In a good way, of course.

He ordered John’s drink and a cappuccino for himself, and he stood to wait. John noticed him watching him and waved, shooting Bruce one of his unnervingly wide smiles.

Bruce was thankful that John had kept his positivity, through everything, anyone else would have lost that spark, been crushed by the world’s opposition. Truthfully John almost had been, it had taken him a long time to get back on his feet, a lot of work from him and a lot of help from Bruce.

He was so happy he could have helped. Being able to save John from what he could have become…

He was happy for every small step of progress John made.

He felt he’d made a real difference.

He picked up their drinks and made his way outside.

John squirmed in his seat, clapping his hands, “Gimme, gimme, gimme,” he said quickly. He reached out with grabby hands, taking the bucket sized drink. “I love these things.”

He paused for a moment, smiling and holding the drink out, “Would you like some?”

Bruce looked at the drink as he sat opposite John. It would probably taste disgusting and it was filled with cream and sugar, but not taking a sip would probably make John feel bad.

He’d grin and bear it.

He leaned in and took the straw in his mouth, looking into John’s eyes as he took a long sip. He pulled away and swallowed his mouthful, keeping eye contact with him as he licked his lips. “It’s actually not half bad,” he stated with a nod.

John smiled as he watched, letting out a weak giggle. He took the drink back and took a sip for himself. “I think it’s delicious. I’d live on these if I could.”

“That would be a very short life.”

John chuckled and nodded, “Which is why I don’t live on them.” He glanced around the cafe, as if searching for something.

“What’s up?” Bruce asked tentatively, taking a sip of his coffee, it tasted intolerably bitter after having John’s drink, he was sure he wouldn’t finish it.

John smiled, lifting a finger to tap his nose, “Oh, it’s nothing.”

Bruce crossed his arms, “No secrets, John.”

John rolled his eyes, “Ok, ok, I kind of planned for us to end up here today.”

“Really? Why?”

John shrugged, lowering his voice, “We needed a cover story.” He dipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small piece of paper. He opened it up and slid it across the table, a smug smile on his face.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, turning the paper to look at it.

It was a picture.

One of John’s old selfies, a man in the background was circled.

Bruce recognised him.

“One of Falcone’s old men?”

John nodded, “He frequents this place. I thought we could follow him, find his hideout, and bust the bitch,” he cackled with laughter, stifling himself after a moment and clearing his throat.

“So this isn’t just a date?” Bruce asked indignantly, he leaned his elbows on the table, “I thought we were just having a nice day out.”

John shrugged, “I thought you’d be proud of me.”

Bruce nodded, “I really am, this is good. Good planning, in field observation, I’m very proud.”

John flashed a smug smile, “Aren’t I just the greatest.”

“You are,” Bruce confirmed with another nod, “Very clever and very handsome.”

John squirmed in his seat, raising a hand to run it through his green hair, “You flatter me.”

“Yes,” Bruce stated, “I’m trying to.”

John giggled lightly, reaching over to pat Bruce’s hand. “So we just wait here and talk about the old days until ug-face-mgee gets here.”

Bruce nodded, smiling, “And then we tail him. Good work, John.”

John took a long sip of his drink, slurping it noisily as if he were trying to prove a point. His eyes widened after a moment, he jolted unnaturally and then choked on his drink, his straw leaving his mouth with a loud string of coughs.

Bruce’s eyes widened, “Whoa, what’s wrong?”

Through his coughs John nodded, one hand went to his throat and the other pointed somewhere behind Bruce. “He’s h-here,” he whined, still coughing weakly.

Bruce turned his head slowly. “What do you know,” he said happily, “We’ve only been here about twenty minutes. Great work, John.”

John nodded, still rubbing his throat. “Thanks. I’m fine, by the way.”

“Sorry,” Bruce said, a hint of guilt in his voice, “Do you need some water?”

John shook his head, his eyes still following their target, his voice was still weak as he spoke, “We’ve gotta tail him, Bruce.” He smiled widely, “This one’s my case, I’m calling the shots,” he slapped his hand on the table as he got to his feet, glaring at his drink with distain, as if it had wronged him.

The man left the café holding a to-go cup and a brown paper bag. Bruce wasn’t sure what had gone on inside, but he knew John had a good idea. He was happy to see him taking control, being confident in himself.

If they blew it today he knew they’d have another shot.

“To the batmobile,” John said quietly, a soft but triumphant smile on his face, “We’ve got a criminal to catch.”


	6. Chapter 6

Gotham at night was always bitterly cold, but Batman couldn’t feel it, he was so happy, so proud.

So much that it almost hurt.

He didn’t know it were possible to feel this happy over someone else’s achievements. He’d been happy when Harvey ran for DA but this couldn’t compare.

This must be what true love felt like.

Batman was waiting for Joker outside the GCPD building. This was the biggest bust they’d had since Joker had gotten out of Arkham, and Joker had orchestrated most of it.

With Batman’s supervision of course.

Batman was waiting outside now more as a gesture to Joker. He didn’t want hover over Joker’s shoulder the whole time, they were just wrapping up, truthfully if Batman were there on his own he would have left already.

He smiled as the door opened and Joker walked through followed by a few officers, his hands held up in triumph.

“Batsy,” Joker said, smiling widely.

“Joker,” Batman said in return, unable to hide the happiness in his voice.

Joker was shifting on his feet, he seemed so happy with himself. Batman could tell from the way he swayed on his feet that he wanted to fling himself into Batman’s arms for a hug, but there were too many people around, they were in front of a police station, he’d never-

Joker jumped forward, flinging his arms around Batman and holding him tight, jumping up and down.

“Batsy, I did it, I did it! My plan worked, my first plan all on my own!”

Batman stayed stiff and still, moving only to give Joker a soft pat on the arm. “I did help quite a lot if I remember correctly.”

Joker pulled away, smiling and biting his lip, he looked Batman up and down, “No, I don’t think I remember that…”

“Joker,” Batman growled, “It’s important to keep a level head.”

Joker pouted, rocking on his feet again.

“Admit that you had help,” Batman said with a smile.

Joker nodded, “Of course, of course… Thankyou, Batman, for all your help.”

“You’re welcome.”

Gordon looked on at them, leaning against the wall of the GCPD building with his arms crossed. “You two do make a good team,” he looked at Batman, an eyebrow raised, “I never saw you as the partner type.”

“He’s better at it than you’d assume,” Joker smirked, “He treats me very well,” he looked at Batman and winked, giggling softly, still overflowing with happiness.

“Joker,” Batman growled softly.

They’d had a conversation previously in which they’d discussed keeping their relationship ‘on the down low’ when they were out as Batman and Joker, in case anyone tried to use it against them or use it to figure out who they really were.

Joker looked him up and down, he let out a small giggle and held up and hand, nodding, “I apologise, Batman… It’s Gordon! I don’t want him thinking you’re being a bad boyfriend, what he thinks means a lot to me.”

“You’re joking,” Gordon said, deadpan.

Joker shrugged, “Well my name is the Joker…”

“Let’s go,” Batman said sternly. He reached out to take Joker’s arm, giving it a soft tug.

Joker nodded, looking up at Batman, “Can we get a mcdonalds?”

Batman rolled his eyes as they began to walk to the batmobile. He couldn’t help feeling angry at what Joker had said, he’d made himself clear before that he didn’t want anyone knowing, he understood Joker was happy and he sometimes found it hard not to run his mouth when he was excited, but that wasn’t an excuse to put them in danger.

He’d bring it up later.

Joker leant over to kiss him as they got into the car.

“Today was great, Batman, I’m so happy!” He rocked in his seat, waving his hands and laughing again, “I can’t stop replaying it in my head.”

Batman closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a soft sigh, “Joker, sit still for a second, put your seat belt on.”

Joker looked at him, his smile fading slightly, his feet still tapping. “I’m just so happy, Bats, come on.” he chuckled, “Have you never been so happy that you just can’t stop moving? I think Dr Leland called it stimming..?”

Batman shook his head, “I can’t say I have.”

Joker raised his eyebrow, looking Batman up and down, “You’re so strange sometimes… I love it,” he leant over to kiss him on the cheek again.

“Joker, seatbelt,” Batman said firmly.

“Ok, ok,” Joker huffed. As he did up the belt he smiled at Batman, “What’s gotten under your skin? You seem a little bit snappy.”

Batman shook his head weakly, he hadn’t meant to be snappy, he loved that Joker was happy.

“John, I,” he shook his head again, “I told you not to tell anyone about us, not as Batman and Joker.”

Joker’s face fell a little, he glanced away. “Oh, Uh, I’m sorry,” he looked back at Batman, “I guess I forgot. I was just so happy, we arrested 4 really bad guys Batman.”

“That’s not an excuse to put us in danger.”

Joker crossed his arms, “I guess… It was just Gordon though.”

“He doesn’t know who I am, and there were other people there too, you weren’t exactly quiet, they could have overheard.”

Joker nodded, “Ok, ok, I’m sorry,” he huffed, “It won’t happen again.”

Batman nodded, “…I love you,” he said softly, realising he hadn’t said it back earlier.

“We make a really good team,” Joker said quietly. He laughed suddenly, “Did you see the look on Harry’s face when he realised you were behind him?!”

Batman smiled weakly, “No, I was behind him.”

Joker laughed again, “It was hilarious, like this,” he pulled a face, an admittedly hilarious grimace.

Batman chuckled, nodding, “That is pretty funny, no wonder you were laughing so hard.”

Joker nodded, laughing to himself again, shaking his head.

“So, uh,” Batman cleared his throat, “Mcdonalds?”

Joker perked up, nodding rapidly, “Yes please.”


	7. -nsfw chapter-

 John and Bruce sat side by side on the sofa, John was leaning against him, his feet up next to him. This had become their default relaxing position. John had become a little more comfortable over the last couple of weeks, to the point where Bruce could put his hands on him without worrying.

His fingers brushed John’s skin, the gap between his shirt and the elastic of his boxers.

At the action John pressed closer to him, letting out a soft hum.

John reached down to bring out his phone.

A moment later Bruce’s phone buzzed.

‘ _That feels nice_ ’

Bruce looked down at John, smiling as he messaged back.

‘I like doing it.’

‘ _I wish I could touch you_ ’ John replied a second later.

Bruce barely saw the point in texting to each other, he could see the message on Johns phone as he wrote it, but it was cute.

‘You can if you want’

John glanced up at him, he shifted out of his sitting position and turned, his eyes still on Bruce as he leant against the far arm of the sofa.

‘ _I run my hand up the inside of your leg_ ’

Bruce looked down at the message, then up at John. The man was biting his lip, the heels of his feet digging into the sofa.

‘I move my hand to your ass’

Bruce could feel himself blushing as he sent the message, for some reason writing it out felt still more embarrassing than actually doing it, but John seemed to feel comfortable.

‘ _I unzip your pants’_

John let out a soft giggle from where he sat, pushing one of his feet forward to press up against Bruce.

‘I pull down your pants’

Another giggle from John, he pressed his foot harder against him.

‘ _I wrap my hand around your dick’_

Bruce let out a soft growl, chewing his lip. He could feel himself becoming hard from just the thought.

His eyes moved to John’s crotch, it looked as if he were hard too.

He slipped his hand into his boxers, one hand beginning to touch himself as the other typed out a message to John.

‘You’re so hot John.  
I touch your cock’

Bruce watched John as he moved his hand to touch himself. A hard lump formed in his chest at the sound of John’s groans.

‘ _I jerk you off’_

Bruce let out a weak chuckle at the wording, looking over at John again. He pulled down his pants a little to free himself, beginning to stroke himself slowly.

‘I massage your balls’

John followed Bruce in his hand movements, pulling his dick from its confines and beginning to stroke himself slowly.

“John…” Bruce moaned softly as he watched him.

John moaned in return, his hand moving faster at the sound of his name.

_‘I lean down to suck your cock’_

Bruce’s breath caught in his throat, his hand moved faster on himself.

‘I love when you do that, it’s so hot John’

John let out a groan, his head tipping back slightly, “Bruce, fuck…”

Bruce couldn’t keep his eyes off John. He wanted nothing more than to reach over and touch him, to move over and kiss him, to put himself between John’s legs…

He texted him telling him so.

John looked down at the phone and then up at him, his breath turned short, a weak smile on his face.

“I want that too,” John said weakly, his voice cracking.

John shifted on the sofa, lifting himself up and moving towards Bruce. He leaned in to press their lips together.

Bruce moaned softly against John’s lips, his hand still moving on himself. “John,” he mumbled quietly, a small lump of worry had lodged itself in his throat. “… I’m not pressuring you.”

John shook his head, “No, I want this,” he leant in to kiss him again. “You’re so hot Bruce, I don’t think I could keep my hands off you if I tried.” As he spoke he moved his free hand to grasp Bruce’s length.

Bruce couldn’t help letting out a sharp moan at the touch, thrusting upwards into John’s hand.

“John,” he whined.

He wanted to reach out and return the favour, touch John too, but he stopped himself, he didn’t want to push John at all.

This was maybe the fourth time they’d done this, and it was the first time they’d moved past texting.

It felt too fast, but Bruce didn’t want to question it and risk freaking John out.

“To-touch me,” John whimpered, gripping Bruce’s shaft tighter, moving his hand faster.

Bruce nodded, he moved his hand to John’s dick, keeping his eyes on John’s face as he began to stroke it.

John’s breath hitched, his eyes closing and his grip on Bruce weakening for a moment, “O-Oh, god.”

Bruce quickly removed his hand, “I’m sorry, are you ok?”

John nodded, panting softly, “Yes, yes, I’m ok, I swear, keep going.” He took Bruce’s hand and returned it to himself.

He leaned in to kiss him again, thrusting against his hand. “Please, Bruce. I want to come for you.”

Bruce moaned loudly against John’s lips. He took John gently into his hand, stroking him in time with John’s own movements.

“I want...” Bruce said quietly, his voice gravelly, he paused before finishing his sentence, knowing it would sound like a command, knowing it might upset John.

John moaned, kissing him deeply and moving his hand faster. “You want me to come for you?” he asked.

Bruce nodded, his grip tightening slightly, he could feel John’s cock beginning to twitch in his hand. “Yes.” He thrust up into John’s hand, panting softly. He was too caught in his head to be anywhere close to coming, but seeing John come would push him over the edge, there was nothing like it, it made him feel dizzy.

“Let me see you come,” Bruce cooed softly.

John nodded, whimpering softly, his breath hard and short.

His head hung slightly, a loud moan leaving in. Bruce grunted softly as he felt John’s dick twitch. He came hard, moaning and laughing weakly.

His grip weakened on Bruce’s length. “Oh Bruce,” he said quietly, “That felt so good, that felt so good!”

Bruce nodded, his head spinning, he thrust up into John’s hand, desperate to finish now.

“Oh!” John smiled, showing his teeth, “Sorry.” He leaned in to kiss Bruce again, his grip tightening and moving his hand faster again.

“I want you to make me come,” Bruce said softly, breathing hard against John’s lips.

John paused and nodded against him. “Do it, Bruce, come, I want you to.”

Bruce’s eyes flitted from John’s face to his cock, he gave it a soft stroke, watching the last dripples of come leak out.

“Fuck,” he growled, he let out another moan, his stomach tensing. “Fuck, John,” he grit his teeth, feeling himself release.

John let out an excited giggle as Bruce’s seed spilled into his hand, the noise fading into a low hum, “It’s like watching fireworks, Bruce.”

Bruce nodded, looking John up and down, “It’s amazing isn’t it.”

John flopped back on the sofa, doing up his pants and running his hand through his hair.

There was something odd about his expression.

“Are you ok?” Bruce asked, outstretching a hand to place it on Johns knee.

John nodded, “Yes, I-…” he nodded again, harder this time, “I am, I mean it, I am,” he let out a chuckle, “That was as close as I’ve ever gotten to sex before and I was fine with it, it was _so_ good.” He put his hand on top of Bruce’s, “Sex is better than that?”

Bruce shrugged and nodded weakly. “This is still very good.”

“Sex is going to blow my damn mind,” John said with a satisfied smile.

“Let’s not push ourselves,” Bruce said softly, “This was your first time touching me, full blown sex is a long way off.”

John nodded again, “Maybe in another month or two we can graduate to mouth stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd really appreciate some comments on this chapter, it's been so long since I wrote nsfw I need encouragement (and also I just generally like attention)


	8. Chapter 8

 Bruce looked at John across the table. They’d come out to eat. It was a small café-like restaurant that sold things like soup and paninis. Bruce had been here a few times before, although never with John.

Bruce had his usual, a chicken tomato and basil panini, John was having a tuna roll.

John had his eyes on Bruce’s face, smiling, he seemed to be stifling a laugh.

“What?” Bruce asked, mimicking John’s smile.

“You’ve got sauce on your chin,” John said, his voice cracking as he tried not to laugh.

Bruce’s smile widened, “Oh,” he lifted his hand, patting blindly at his face.

John’s laugh rose sharply, his hand darting to his mouth to try to stop the noise. “It’s still there,” he said softly.

He raised himself up in his chair, “Here, let me,” he reached over to wipe Bruce’s face. “There we go, beautiful again.”

Bruce blushed, feeling himself still a little as John touched him. “John,” he said with a soft growl, feeling himself tense up, dread in his chest.

He suddenly felt hyper aware of his surroundings.

What was this?

He felt… panicky.

John cocked his head, sitting back down in the chair, “Bruce? What’s wrong?”

“Sorry I…” he shook his head, clearing his throat. “I don’t know what that was.”

“You had a little moment,” John said softly. “Why don’t we finish up and go home.”

Bruce held up his hand, “No, it’s ok, I’m ok.”

John nodded, picking up his sandwich and taking a small bite, humming at the taste.

“You know, you were right, this is very good.”

Bruce nodded, trying to force himself to feel normal again. “It is good, I come here whenever I can.”

John looked Bruce up and down, there was look in his eye that Bruce found unnerving, he seemed concerned. “Worth the trip,” John said lightly.

“There’s a nice park near here, we should go there next.”

John’s eyes lit up, “A park?” he smiled widely, “We should take the food and have a picnic.”

Bruce turned his head to look outside, it was sunny out, a lovely day really. “Ok, that sounds like a really good idea. I’ll ask for a box or something for our food and get a couple of bottles of water too.”

He hopped to his feet, glancing down at John as he passed, walking toward the counter.

Luckily there wasn’t any line so he was able to quickly get a small to-go box for the food and some water too.

He let out a soft sigh as he approached the table again, John smiling up at him.

“This is going to be so great,” John said happily, he scooped their food up and shovelled it into the box, standing up as he did.

John looked him up and down, a soft look in his eyes which matched the smile on his face. He held out his hand for Bruce to take, the box of food in his other hand.

Bruce looked at the hand and felt his stomach tense a little.

He swallowed hard and reached out to take his hand as they walked. John squeezed hard and Bruce felt a sharp stab through his chest.

He wasn’t sure why but he felt uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. His breath felt short, his heart was in his throat.

He hoped John couldn’t tell.

He cleared his throat, “You might want to hold the box with both hands,” he said quietly, forcing a smile.

John’s smile fell a little, he nodded and let go of Bruce’s hand, distancing himself a little on the path, he looked at him, pausing for a moment.

“If you don’t want to hold hands that’s ok,” John said softly, calmly, “You don’t have to make excuses.”

Bruce smiled weakly, a hint of shame to the movement, “…It’s just…”

“It’s not your favourite flavour, it’s ok,” John chuckled, “With all the things you put up with me doing I think I can accept you not wanting to hold hands in public.” He glanced away, “But uh,” he shifted on his feet, wrapping his arms around the box, “I would like to mention that uh,” his voice lowered a little, “You’ve held the hand of many-a girlfriend in public.”

Bruce felt himself freeze, his stomach churning. “John, I…” he started the sentence with no idea where it was leading, he wanted an explanation to spring to mind but he didn’t have one.

“It’s something you should try to work on,” John said as they came to the park.

Bruce hung his head a little as they walked across the grass. That small gesture, he felt as if he’d ruined the whole day. He felt deflated.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said quietly. He shook his head, sitting down on the soft green floor.

“I don’t know what it is,” he continued. “We’ve never really… It just makes me uncomfortable. I feel like everyone’s watching us, and not in a good way.”

John opened the box, listening to Bruce’s inadequate excuses. He opened the box with a small smile on his face, leaning over to hand Bruce his panini. “It sounds like you’re self-conscious,” he observed. His smile grew wider, “Am I perchance your first boyfriend, Brucie?”

Bruce thought for a moment, “No, I had a boyfriend in college.”

John chuckled softly, “Aw, you as a baby-gay, must have been so cute.”

Bruce nodded, “We were pretty cute.”

John took a bite of his tuna sandwich, looking at Bruce with eyes urging him to say more. “Did you hold hands with him in public?”

Bruce felt his stomach tense again. He hated this feeling, he felt sick, he was pretty sure his panini wouldn’t make it back to the car with him.

“Yes,” he stated quietly, his eyes drifting down to his hands.

John nodded slowly, he crossed his legs and held his hands on his knees. “So, what’s different about me?”

There was an interesting tone to his voice, he sounded more mature, like he was doing an impression of Dr Leland.

“Nothing,” Bruce said, shaking his head.

“There’s got to be something different?”

Bruce shook his head again, “No, he was a lovely young man, he… made me laugh.”

John let out a soft growl like hum, he sounded a little jealous. “Are you sure there was nothing different?” his voice softened, “Did anything happen that might have made you worried?”

Bruce clenched his hands, digging his nails into his palms as he thought back. “There was an incident, in a bar near here actually. My boyfriend and I were threatened by… some guy. We took him down but my boyfriend got hurt and had to have 5 stitches in his hand.”

“There you have it!” John practically yelled, clapping his hands together. “You’re worried because of that, you don’t want the same thing to happen to me.”

He reached forward and took Bruce’s hand, pulling it to him and kissing his fingers. Bruce felt himself jolt slightly, but he felt a little more at ease having told his story.

“I can handle myself, Bruce, I’ve taken down so many criminals, I’ve killed people for-” John stopped himself, letting go of Bruce’s hand. “We can go as slowly as you want, we’re already going slowly for my sake.”

“I’ll try not to worry so much,” Bruce said quietly.

John nodded, “Like I said, it’s something you should work on. At least it’s not a mystery, you know what’s up and you can focus on it.” His eyes widened, “Maybe you could go to therapy, with Dr Leland, she always asks about you, she’d love to talk with you.”

Bruce shrugged, “I don’t think I need that, John. I’ll deal with it, we’ll be making out in public in no time.”

“Can’t wait,” John said, smiling proudly and taking another bite of his sandwich.

Bruce looked him up and down, “Look at you helping me out now. You’ve grown so much,” he let out a soft huff, shaking his head, “You mean so much to me, John, I love you so much. If anything happened to you…”

John smirked, “That sounds like the beginning of a proposal.”

Bruce laughed weakly, “No, I just…”

“You love me,” John cooed.

“I do.”

“And you worry about me.”

“I do…”

“Let me worry about you too.”

“Ok.”


	9. Chapter 9

Bruce was woken by John prodding him.

It wasn’t time to get up yet, it was still dark out.

The light wasn’t turned on.

“John?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“Shit,” John groaned through the darkness, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Then why are you poking me..?”

Bruce flinched slightly as John sat on the bed, not having expected the movement.

“I’m not poking you, I’m just trying to get you to roll over.”

“Why are you even in here?” Bruce asked. Finally he sat up in bed, turning on the bedside light.

John was sitting on the bed, looking down at him through sleepy eyes, he was naked other than a pair of white boxers.

Bruce studied his face, he seemed worried.

“What wrong?” he croaked out.

John shook his head, “Nothing, I’m fine, I just,” he shrugged, “had a _bad dream_ ,” he huffed, “I was running from something… I don’t really remember.”

That sounded like a lie.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Bruce assured him.

“So I just…” John shrugged, seemingly ignoring what Bruce had said, “I just wanted a hug.”

He sounded almost ashamed as he spoke.

Bruce lifted his hand to stroke John’s arm, hoping to calm him, he noticed the man flinch as he touched him.

“You can have a hug if you want,” Bruce said softly, he shifted back on the bed a little and pulled back the covers.

John smiled weakly and flopped down on the bed next to him, he pulled the cover over himself, wiggling and squirming until he found a comfortable position with his back against Bruce’s chest.

He reached back and grabbed Bruce’s arm, pulling it round him as if it were an extra sheet, nuzzling against him.

“Maybe one of your toys would help?” Bruce suggested, moving his hand to stroke John’s chin.

John nuzzled him, giving Bruce’s fingers a gentle kiss. “Probably, but they’re all downstairs. I shouldn’t have left them down there.”

“No, you shouldn’t have, Dr Leland said it’s good to keep them close.”

“I don’t want to go downstairs,” John whined.

Bruce rolled his eyes, “Would you like me to go and get one?”

John shook his head, “No… I just want a hug.”

“Ok,” Bruce said with a nod of his head. He pulled John close, breathing in his scent, he smelled like sour apples.

John stroked Bruce’s fingers as he hugged his hand. “Nightmares are strange aren’t they…” he said after a few moments, it wasn’t a real question even though it sounded like one.

“They are,” Bruce confirmed. “Do you get them often?” he asked, part of him not expecting an answer.

John shook his head, his hair ticking Bruce’s throat. “Not anymore. When I…” he paused and cleared his throat, “When I was in Arkham I got them all the time. Joan said it was my brain dealing with things.”

Bruce nodded, “That’s right. So, she knows about them?”

John nodded, swallowing hard. “She does,” he confirmed.

Bruce couldn’t help feeling a little left out, he had no idea that John had bad dreams. He’d assumed, and of course John had no obligation to tell him anything, but he couldn’t help feeling bad about it.

John let out a soft breath, Bruce thought he might have gone to sleep.

“It scares me, Bruce,” John said quietly, holding Bruce’s hand close. “When I’m awake I feel fine, but then I have these dreams. There’s so much going on in my head that I don’t know about, I feel so out of control.”

Bruce pushed a soft kiss into John’s hair, “It’s ok,” he said against him, “…you’re not the only one who feels like that.” He cleared his throat, his stomach turning a little at the thought of what he was about to say, “I still get nightmares, sometimes. About my parents, about… everything that’s happened to me.”

John turned in Bruce’s arm, looking at him with teary eyes, “You do?”

Bruce nodded, “I have nightmares about you sometimes, about all the things I did to you, I felt like there was no other way of going around it. I was selfish and I hurt you.”

John lifted his hand as Bruce spoke, running his fingers through Bruce’s black hair, smiling weakly. “It’s good to hear you say that,” he glanced away, “I don’t think I would have reacted well if you did tell me the truth…”

Bruce shook his head, “Probably not.” He ran his hand up and down John’s back, hoping he would be comforted, “But I still feel bad about it. I still have bad dreams about it.”

John nodded, “That makes me feel better…” he smiled. He looked so tired, Bruce couldn’t help wondering if he’d been able to sleep at all.

“I’ve changed my mind,” John said tentatively, “I do want one of my toys…”

“Ok,” Bruce said, removing his hands from John’s back. “Any one in particular?”

John thought for a moment, letting out a soft hum as he did. “I don’t mind, something blue? Not the rabbit though he’s too heavy to sleep with.”

Bruce paused, frowning softly, “I thought you liked heavy things?”

John nodded, “Usually yes, but tonight I want the only heavy thing to be you.”

Bruce gave a nod of acknowledgement and pulled away, getting out of bed and beginning the walk downstairs towards John’s calm room.

This was a new thing for them, sleeping together, although they were in a loving relationship John didn’t seem comfortable sharing a bed. Bruce wasn’t sure why but he hadn’t questioned it. He assumed it was simply because he’d never shared a bed before.

He wished they were sharing now under better circumstances, not just because John had had a nightmare, but it couldn’t be helped. Bruce was looking forward to waking up tomorrow with John in his arms. Maybe they could stay in bed all day.

He walked into the calm room and turned on the light, the colourful room almost blinded him after getting used to the dark.

There were mounds of toys so it wouldn’t be hard to find one which was blue and was not a rabbit. The blue rabbit was on the beanbag chair in the corner of the room. Bruce picked up a blue mouse- like animal, one which was fluffy and felt very light, and he began back upstairs.

It took a while for his eyes to readjust to the dark as he walked back to the bedroom. He smiled at the thought of seeing John in his bed, illuminated by the bedside light.

His smile widened as he walked into the bedroom, seeing exactly that.

John had taken one of his pillows and twisted it in his arms so it served as both a pillow and something to cuddle, he seemed to be asleep.

Bruce smiled softly, his heart warming at the sight. He placed the toy on the bedside table closest to John, and he walked around the bed.

He slowly slipped under the covers, snuggling up to John and pulling him close, falling asleep with him in his arms. 


	10. Chapter 10

Bruce sat in the waiting room in Arkham. He’d arrived early to pick John up from his appointment. John could have driven himself home of course but Bruce wanted to take him out for lunch, somewhere nice and public where they could hold hands, maybe even kiss.

Bruce was choosing to face his hang ups head on, force himself into uncomfortable situations as a kind of exposure therapy. It was on his terms so it should be ok.

He stood as John walked down the hall towards him.

Dr Leland was with him. That was a little unusual. Usually John came out by himself.

“Hey, Brucie,” John smiled at him.

“John,” Bruce said softly. He turned his eyes to Dr Leland, “Doctor, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Bruce,” she said politely. She glanced at John, then back at Bruce, “John said you might want to talk to me today?”

Bruce frowned, his eyes flitting to John for confirmation or an explanation. John smiled and gave a weak not in return.

“I’m…” Bruce shifted on his feet, his eyes still lingering on John. “Why would you tell her that?”

John’s smile faltered, “Well… you do don’t you..?” the smile sprung back to his face, “You know, your little problem? I already talked to her about it and I think it’d be good for you to talk it out.”

Bruce shook his head, holding his hand up, “No, thankyou for the offer, but I’m ok.”

John’s smile fell again, he turned to Dr Leland, raising his eyebrow and shifting on his feet, silently urging her to say something.

Dr Leland let out a small huff, “I can’t force Bruce to talk about anything he doesn’t want to talk about, that could cause more harm than good.”

John sighed loudly. “Ok…” He crossed his arms, “I’ll see you next week Joan.”

“Be good, John,” she said, smiling weakly as she turned to leave.

John pouted as they began to walk to the car.

Once they were out of the building Bruce felt himself deflate slightly. “You shouldn’t have done that, John.”

“I just thought you might want to talk about it,” John whined.

Bruce shook his head, “You don’t spring that sort of thing on someone. And I’m dealing with it by myself.”

“Therapy helps, Bruce,” John said loudly, huffing in annoyance, “It _really_ does! I’m worried about you. You never deal with anything you just let all your emotions pile up.”

Bruce paused, maybe John was right. Before now he always had Alfred to talk things out with if he needed to. He had John now but John was already dealing with so much, he didn’t want him worrying too.

“Fine,” Bruce said, forcing the word from himself. “I’ll talk to her. But in the future you have to talk to me about things like this before you set them up, I don’t like being taken off guard.”

John raised his fist in triumph, “Yes… I knew you’d agree,” he chuckled weakly, “I knew you would. Dr Leland said you were too strong willed to agree, I knew I was right.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Bruce said quietly. He thought for a moment as they reached the car, opening the door for John. If he did talk to someone about his problem then it was probably wise not to force himself into any uncomfortable situations until after his first appointment.

Honestly the idea of therapy unnerved him. It would be too easy for someone to guess who he was. But if it were just a chat with Dr Leland about this one specific thing that should be ok. It would put John’s mind at rest and probably help their relationship.

“Did you want to go out for lunch?” he asked, “Or do you want to go straight home? I know therapy is tiring.” He put extra emphasis on the second option, hoping John might pick that one.

John nodded, taking a small toy from the glove compartment and beginning to fiddle with it as he thought. “Could we get a pizza on the way home? That way we’re both getting lunch _and_ going home.”

“Smart thinking,” Bruce said with a nod. He started up the car and tried to think of the nearest pizza place, letting John fiddle with his toy in silence. Quickly he decided on a small restaurant only a few minutes out of their way, the last time they’d eaten there John had said the dip was the best thing he’d ever eaten.

“So, did you have a good session?” Bruce asked lightly. “If I’m going to be going to therapy I should probably know what to expect.”

John shrugged, “You just talk about the problem and she tells you what she thinks and suggests stuff to deal with it, you know, you’ve already talked to her.”

Bruce nodded, “That’s true I suppose,” he let out a soft breath, “I think I’m just nervous, I haven’t talked about what happened in so long.”

“I know what that’s like,” John said with a soft chuckle. “Just go slowly,” he smiled at him, leaning over to pat Bruce’s knee.

“I didn’t think it’d affected me this badly,” Bruce admitted, “I’ve seen much worse things since then. My boyfriend was fine other than one cut.”

John narrowed his eyes, “You keep saying ‘my boyfriend’. Who was it? I’m your boyfriend now I don’t feel comfortable not using their name.”

Bruce chewed his lip, “Oh, uh. It was Harvey Dent,” he glanced over at John, “Don’t tell anyone, please.”

Not many people knew about his short fling with Harvey, they’d been close their whole life, they just happened to get a little closer during college.

A wide smile spread across John’s face, “Harvey Dent? Your friend with the…” he waved his hand over his face, “The face thing?!”

Bruce nodded, “Luckily we stayed friends after we broke up.”

“Good guys to have on your side,” John smirked. He looked Bruce up and down, “Though I’ve gotta say having met the guy it’s super weird to me that you’ve had your dick up his ass.”

Bruce shrugged and shook his head, shying away a little.

Harvey had been his first and only boyfriend before now, Bruce had had many girlfriends before that, so he’d been excited to experiment and try out new things. During their time together he hadn’t topped once.

John’s eyes widened, “No,” he said, shocked, “He had _his_ dick up _your_ ass?”

Bruce reluctantly nodded.

John chuckled lightly, shaking his head, “Now isn’t that a mental image,” he let out a weak growl, “Opens up a whole new _world_ of fantasies.”

Bruce chuckled, “I’m glad you’re getting something good out of it.”

“Oh yeah,” John smirked, “I’ll milk that for all it’s worth.” He shifted in his seat, “That ok with you?”

Bruce nodded, “Sure, fantasise all you like. Maybe one day we can do it in real life.”

John laughed and nodded, blushing a deep pink, “That sounds great. Another thing to look forward to!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I am super happy with this chapter. Get ready to read the best thing I've written in like 6 years.

Bruce looked out across the field of people, the conversations of the guests merging together into a comforting background chatter, it was like white noise. He found the noise comforting.

John though seemed a little unnerved by the constant humming of people talking.

This was probably the busiest room he’d ever been in.

Bruce walked up to him, two drinks in his hand, one for himself and one for John.

To someone unfamiliar with John’s little quirks he might seem fine, but Bruce could tell. His brows were arched, his smile was unnervingly still on his face, he kept tugging on the sleeves of his new deep purple suit and shifting on his feet, trying to look at everything at once. The look on his face screamed discomfort.

“You seem anxious,” Bruce observed, holding out a drink for John to take.

John nodded rapidly, letting out a weak chuckle, “Oh, yeah,” he said, taking the drink and gulping it down.

Bruce frowned, lifting a hand to lower to the drink from his lips, “Don’t do that…” he moved his hand to stroke John’s arm. “Don’t try to get drunk, John. If you need to calm down you can go to your room, no one’s going to mind.”

John shook his head, his smile faltering slightly, “No, no, I’m ok.”

His tone sounded fake, it made Bruce nervous too.

“John…” Bruce cooed, “It’s ok, no one’s going to judge you.”

John huffed, “Not everyone’s as nice as you, Bruce. I’ve said hello to one person so far and they couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”

Bruce frowned, glancing over this shoulder, looking around for someone John could talk to comfortably. “How about Gordon? You’re normally ok talking to him.”

John shook his head, “I usually talk to him as,” he paused to deliberately lower his voice, “Y’know, as Joker. About cases and stuff,” he huffed again, “What am I meant to talk to him about here? The fucking artwork?!”

Bruce smiled weakly, “Jim’s not one to talk about artwork.” He held up his hand in a dismissive gesture, “Ok, not Gordon. How about uh…” he looked around again, “I think Dr Leland said she’d be coming.”

John’s face relaxed, his voice filling with a sudden excitement, “Really?” he smiled genuinely. “Oh I love talking to Joan!”

Bruce nodded, continuing to look around, he stilled as he saw her, “There she is,” he pointed over to where she stood, she was deep in conversation with an older woman. He looked at John again, “Why don’t you go and say hello. I’ll be talking to Jim if you need me, I’ll get him talking and then you can join our conversation.” He paused for a moment, “Try not to drink too much, I don’t want you climbing up the walls.”

John nodded happily and walked off towards Dr Leland.

Hopefully talking to her would help him feel more comfortable and he’d be able to ease into talking with other people.

Hopefully John would make a couple of friends before the end of the night.

Bruce tried to put John out of his mind as he walked towards Jim, it was important for John to have some time to be independent, not have Bruce looking over his shoulder every step of the way.

“Jim,” he said with a smile as he approached, extending his hand.

Jim took it, smiling, “Bruce, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”

Bruce nodded, “It has. How are you holding up?”

“Things are going pretty well, Joker and Batman are proving to be very helpful, thankfully.”

Bruce nodded and took a sip of his drink.

“How’s John doing?” Jim asked. He sounded a little concerned.

Bruce smiled, “He’s doing very well, settling a little more every day.”

Jim smiled, “That’s good to hear. When I heard you were taking guardianship of him…” he shook his head, “I’ve got to say I was a little, uh… Well I wasn’t sure you’d be able to handle him.”

Bruce chuckled weakly, “He’s really not all that bad. We’ve been through a lot together, he trusts me, he’s my best friend.”

Jim hummed and nodded again, “More than just ‘best friends’ from what I’ve heard.”

Bruce felt himself blush, he let out a slow exhale to help calm himself, “Well, I won’t deny it.”

Jim looked him up and down, “You don’t have to be so guarded, Bruce. We all support you here. You’ve been through a lot and somehow both came out happy. That’s a much better outcome than any of us expected.”

Bruce smiled genuinely, a warm fuzzy feeling filling his chest. “He’s just so interesting, Jim,” he confessed, “He finds everything exciting, and he’s passionate about his interests.”

Jim frowned weakly, looking over Bruce’s shoulder. “Is one of those interests shouting at old ladies..?”

Bruce’s head whipped round, his heart sinking to his feet.

“Perhaps people like us aren’t interested in talking to you either, Debora!” John’s voice spiked loudly over the hum of other conversations. He was yelling at the elderly woman Dr Leland had been talking to.

Bruce began to walk towards him, his body tensed and ready to pull him away if he had to.

“John,” Dr Leland said calmly, holding her hand out to separate the two. She turned to the other lady, a deep frown on her face, “Deb, you are being very rude.”

“I’m only sharing my opinion,” the lady said indignantly. The expression on her face as she looked at John stirred something close to hatred inside of Bruce. He felt his fits clench and his heart rate rise.

“Well your opinion is fucking _stupid_ ,” John almost screamed. “Have you never considered that some people think differently to you?”

As Bruce approached them he reached out to take John’s arm.

John turned his head to Bruce, ready to shout at whoever had touched him. When he realised it was Bruce the expression on his face changed from a snarl to a look of panic.

“Bruce,” he yelped, looking back at the old lady. “She started it!” he spat.

“John,” Bruce said quietly. “I think we should go to the calm room.”

John looked between them, his breath leaving him in soft pants. After a few seconds he nodded, mumbling curse words to himself under his breath.

He turned and marched towards the stairs before Bruce had a chance to say anything else.

Bruce turned to the lady, he wanted to say something to her but he wasn’t sure what.

“That was incredibly disrespectful,” Dr Leland interjected before Bruce could find the words, “I can’t believe you would talk to someone like that.”

Bruce felt himself deflate as Dr Leland berated the woman, talking to her as if she were a misbehaving student in a middleschool classroom.

He quickly moved to follow John, wanting to hear his side of things, he knew John would want to talk about it and explain himself, although it would most likely turn into rambling about how angry he was.

It was still important for him to feel heard.

Bruce approached the room and found the door closed, he gave it a soft knock and waited for John to ask him in.

He could hear the faint sound of things being thrown.

He bit his lip and opened the door, unable to make himself wait for John’s ok.

“Bruce,” John said, his voice cracking. “Did you hear what she said to me?!”

Bruce shook his head, staying silent as he closed the door behind him.

“She told me. That bitch! She told me I shouldn’t be there!” he let out a growl, throwing another toy across the room. “We were talking about the integration of ex-cons and the mentally ill into society and she said that we shouldn’t be allowed in! Shouldn’t be _allowed_! Who the fuck does she think she is?! She can’t _gatekeep_ society!” He growled again, “I was about ready to throw her through the window. A-and then she said that she wouldn’t want to talk to anyone like that! As if I wasn’t fucking standing _right_ in front of her!”

He held his hands to the side of his head, groaning angrily through gritted teeth, digging his nails into the side of his head.

“I’m sorry, John,” Bruce said quietly.

“I’m so fucking mad!” John yelled over him, as if he hadn’t even heard what Bruce had said. “Why would someone say something like _that_?!”

“Not everyone’s like her, John.”

John looked up at him. “Not everyone’s like _you_ either Bruce, there are more dumbass fucking idiots like _her_ in the world than there are people like you!”

Bruce shook his head, “That’s not true, John.” He smiled and took a step into the room, looking down at John, “You know I didn’t have to say a word to that woman, Dr Leland started telling her off before I had the chance.”

John looked up at him, lowering his hands from him head, breathing deeply. “Really?”

Bruce nodded, “Yeah, she was really giving her an ear full.”

John chuckled weakly, looking down at one of his toys before picking it up. “Good…”

“Dr Leland can be quite scary when she wants to be,” Bruce added.

John let out a deep sigh, fiddling with the toy in his hand. “Good. I hope that stupid lady has a heart attack…”

Bruce frowned, “You shouldn’t say things like that.”

John pouted and shook his head mockingly, “I can say what I want. Doesn’t mean I’m going to try to _give_ her a heart attack.”

“She is pretty old, I bet one good scare could get her.”

John chuckled weakly. “Thankyou, Bruce…”

Bruce sighed softly, giving John a small nod. “Do you think you’ll come back upstairs?”

“No,” John stated firmly, “Not yet, maybe later but I don’t know… I might just go to bed.”

“Ok, whatever you want,” Bruce said, hoping to reassure him. He gave him a small smile before turning and returning to the party.


	12. nsfw chapter

John was in Bruce’s bed again.

Every few nights he’d crawl in now.

Bruce was beginning to wonder who was going to back down first. Would John ask to stay in his bed permanently? Or would Bruce ask?

The only bad thing about both of them being so strong willed was that things moved so slowly.

It was a silent game between them.

John pressed himself against Bruce’s chest, letting out soft and sweet humming noises and grinding against him.

Bruce wrapped his arm around him, leaning in to kiss his neck.

“I don’t have my phone with me,” John said, his voice cracking with sleep.

Bruce frowned weakly, pressing his forehead into John’s hair. “Do you need it?” he asked quietly, the words leaving him as a growl.

Bruce felt John tense in his arms, felt him nodding.

“Why?” he asked.

John let out a soft breath. “I wanted to send you a message,” he whispered, it sounded almost as if he were ashamed to say it.

Bruce knew what it meant. The only reason John would want to message him while they were in the same room… Or even if they weren’t…

“What would the message say?” he enquired.

John gave Bruce’s hand a gentle kiss. “It would say that your cock feels nice, and I wish I could have it inside me.”

“That’d be nice,” Bruce said, a lustful tone to his voice that he couldn’t hide. Maybe if he wasn’t half asleep he’d be able to. “How would we do it?”

“Like this,” John said almost bluntly. He moved his leg slightly under the cover, lifting it over Bruce’s and using it to pull him closer, gripping his arm tight and holding it against his chest.

“Spooning?” Bruce smiled.

John nodded. “Yeah, and you could bite my neck,” he moved his hand to Bruce’s hip, dragging his nails against his skin, “I could scratch you.”

“That’d be nice,” Bruce said, he gave John’s neck a kiss, letting his teeth brush against his skin in a mock bite.

John swallowed hard. “Yeah it would,” he almost whined. “Fuck it’d be so good… We could do it every night.”

Bruce nodded against John again, giving him another kiss.

Slowly John moved to take Bruce’s hand. “I’m hard just thinking about it,” he mumbled.

Bruce smiled, letting John move his hand downward. “Me too.”

John let out a short laugh, “Oh I can tell.” He pressed back against him, making Bruce moan at the friction.

“Feels good?” John asked him.

Bruce gave a soft hum as an answer, lowering his hand further and grazing John’s crotch, making him let out a moan similar to Bruce’s.

“Feels good?” Bruce asked, smirking as he felt John shiver in his arms.

John nodded rapidly. He held Bruce’s wrist and pressed it against him.

Bruce smiled, brushing against him deliberately softly, running his fingertips from John’s tip to his balls and back, feeling him over his boxers.

“You feel good,” he growled.

“Bruce…” John moaned, pressing back against him and twitching slightly at his touch.

“Do you want me to stop?” Bruce asked, just to be sure this wouldn’t be too much for him.

John shook his head. “No, keep going. I’ll-I’ll tell you if it gets too much.” He let out a quiet whine, “Keep going, Bruce, touch me, don’t make me beg.”

Bruce kissed his neck, running his fingers over him again, rubbing his thumb over his slit, slowly he dragged his fingers down and wrapped his hand around John’s length, giving it a slow tug.

“Don’t tease me Bruce, come _on_ ,” John growled, thrusting into his hand.

Bruce hummed and pressed against him, letting John feel the hardness against his lower back. “If we were going to do it, this is how I’d start.”

John let out a weak chuckle which tapered into a growl. “We’ll save that for when it actually happens.” He took Bruce’s hand and tugged at up, urging him to move faster.

“Don’t you want it to be realistic?” Bruce asked.

“No,” John grumbled, he let out a small huff and shook his head, “I want you to make me come.”

Bruce began to move his hand faster. “I’m sure I can do that.”

John moaned loudly at the sudden change of pace, panting softly and tipping his head back. “Oh, Bruce, yes, just like that.” He reached back to paw at Bruce’s hip, scratching at his skin.

Bruce thrust forward, groaning at the pain, he tightened his grip as he began to rut against him, moaning against John’s skin.

“Faster, faster,” John yelped, digging his nails into Bruce’s hips and grinding back against his crotch.

“You feel so good,” Bruce whispered into John’s ear. The man whined in response. Bruce let out a breathy moan, his lips brushing John’s ear. He could feel precome leaking from him, wetting John’s back. “I wish I could fuck you, John,” he confessed, “It’d feel so good to be inside you.”

John whined and moaned as Bruce talked, kicking out a little. He nodded weakly, “Yeah.” He let out another choked moan, “Oh, god, Bruce.”

“You’d love it, John. You’d come so hard.”

Another whine left John’s lips as he nodded again. “I’m close,” he whimpered, “Bruce, I’m so close.”

Bruce left out a hum, tightening his grip slightly. He closed his eyes as he felt John’s cock twitch, listening to his moans of pleasure and letting the noises fill him. John’s body stilled after a moment, the man panting loudly.

After a moment John turned in his arms to face him, “That felt amazing, Bruce…” He brushed against Bruce’s cock, “Must have gotten you warmed up.”

Bruce smirked, “Yeah, I like getting to touch you like that.”

John reached out to take Bruce in his hand, “I like getting to touch you like that.” He smiled, “Did you like grinding against my ass?”

Bruce nodded, feeling a jolt in his gut as John moved his hand up and down his shaft.

“I really liked it too. It felt amazing. I can’t wait to have you inside me for _real_.” There was a soft growl to his voice which sent shivers down Bruce’s spine.

“I-“ Bruce stuttered as John’s hand moved on him, sharp breaths leaving him, “I can’t wait to come inside you.”

John glanced down at Bruce’s length, a strange look coming to his face.

“I really want you to.” He closed his eyes for a moment, swallowing hard. When he opened his eyes again he leant in to kiss Bruce.

Bruce raised a hand to cup John’s face, he could hear the frustration in his voice. “I don’t need anything more than this. This is perfect, you’re so perfect.”

John let out a long low hum, leaning forward again to kiss him messily.

Bruce knit his fingers into John’s hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss, he moaned into his mouth as he thrust into John’s hand. John’s grip tightened on him with the movement, his hand moving faster.

“John, that feels so good…” Bruce groaned, his voice cracking against John’s soft lips.

John moved slowly, wrapping his leg around Bruce’s, pressing their hips closer together. Bruce could feel John thrusting slowly against him, the wetness of John’s come slicking between them. He closed his eyes and focussed on the feel of him.

“John, I,” he growled, panting hard, his nails digging into John’s skin.

John moaned softly, smiling weakly as he kissed at Bruce again, “Come for me, Bruce,” he said quietly. He pressed himself closer to Bruce as he moved his hand faster.

Bruce’s head tipped forward slightly, a long groan leaving him as his pleasure reached it’s peak and he spilled into John’s hand. He panted softly as his and John’s come mixed on their stomachs.

“Fuck, John,” Bruce gave his head a small shake, leaning in to kiss John again, “You’re… You’re so amazing. You’re so good at that.”

John let out a weak croaked chuckle, “If it were an Olympic sport I’d get gold every time.”

Bruce nodded, “Yeah, but it probably wouldn’t be allowed on tv.”

John shook his head, “It’s not worth it then.” He leaned in to kiss Bruce gently, letting out a slow hum against his lips, “I guess you’re the only one who’ll know then…”

“I’m ok with that,” Bruce said, kissing him back.


	13. Chapter 13

Joker was lounging on the edge of the building, his leg hanging off, his head propped up by his elbow.

Batman watched him, his gut twitching.

“Do you have to sit so close to the edge?” he asked, trying to hide the worry from his voice.

Joker rolled over to face him, the pit in Batman’s stomach easing a little as he moved away from the edge.

“I like living my life on the edge,” Joker smirked.

“It’s putting me on edge,” Batman retorted. “I can’t concentrate if I’m worried about you falling.”

Joker chuckled lightly, “You’ll catch me if I fall.”

“I’d rather not have to worry about it.”

Joker hummed and nodded, “Ok, ok.” He got to his feet, pausing for a moment before taking a small step back, “Oh no, Batsy, I’m falling!”

“Joker,” Batman growled as a warning.

Joker’s eyes widened, he shuffled back another small step, “Aren’t you going to come and save me?”

“Don’t make me save you,” Batman said, crossing his arms, looking at Joker with judging eyes.

Joker began to lean back on his heels, a wide smile splitting his face.

He swayed back and forth, leaning back over the edge a little more each time.

They kept eye contact, silently waring between themselves over who would break first.

Joker rocked back again, his arms out, letting out a small squeak, as if he were actually worried he might fall.

At the sound Batman shot forward, wrapping his arm around Joker and pulling him away from the edge.

As he pulled him away from a possible death Joker began to laugh, wrapping his arms around Batman’s neck.

Batman let out a small huff, smiling weakly although he was trying to hide it.

Joker pressed up against him, his laugh petering out as he studied Batman’s face. “I knew you’d save me,” he said softly.

“Of course you did,” Batman said, a soft frown ghosting his face, “It loses its surprise after the first five times.”

“I guess I’ve just got to get more creative,” Joker smiled.

He let out a soft breath, Batman’s arm still around him, his arms still looped around Batman’s neck. He moved his hand to run his fingers over the back of Batman’s cowl.

“Please stop making me save you,” Batman said with a soft disparaged breath.

“But how else will I know you love me?” Joker asked.

Batman shook his head, pulling away from Joker and going back towards where he’d been sitting before, where a thermos of coffee sat.

He picked it up and poured some coffee into the top. “Do you want some?” he asked.

Joker shrugged, following Batman, “I guess… Could we Irish it up a little? Might make the night go faster.”

Batman shook his head firmly, “No.” He sat down on the floor, his knees up to his chest, “I know it’s boring tonight.”

“I don’t do well with boring.”

“I know…” Batman reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and holding it out to Joker, “I downloaded angry birds for you.”

Joker let out a loud mocking gasp, “A phone? On patrol?” he clutched his chest, “I never would have thought.”

Batman shook the phone slightly, urging Joker to take it. “It’ll stop you jumping off the roof.”

Joker let out a cute happy squeak and took the phone, sitting down next to Batman and crossing his legs.

Batman looked over at Joker, watching him start up his game. He knew he’d get bored in an hour or so but that would still be an hour or so without him causing trouble.

Every time he got bored he’d pull something. It stressed Bruce out.

Threatening to throw himself off one of Gotham’s tallest buildings was not the most outrageous thing he’d done while bored.

He moved his hand to place it on Joker’s knee, letting out a soft huff as he looked over the city.

“How do you not get bored when it’s like this?” Joker asked, not looking up from his phone.

Batman shrugged, “I don’t know. I just don’t.” He shook his head, “That’s not quite true, I do get bored sometimes, I usually move spots or do some press-ups.”

“That does _not_ sound like a cure for boredom.”

“It doesn’t always work.” Batman smiled, “Sometimes you’ve got to call it a day and go home.”

Joker hummed softly, “Wanna go home now?”

“We’ll give it another hour. After you get bored of angry birds we’ll probably go.”

Joker huffed, “I’m kinda _already_ bored of angry birds. Do you have any idea how long this game has been out?”

“Oh…” Batman said, letting out a small huff, “Do you think you can handle being bored another hour?”

Joker nodded, “It won’t kill me,” he said quietly.

He leant over to put his head on Batman’s shoulder, his eyes still on the phone as he shifted to make himself comfortable.

After another minute or two he locked the phone, handing it back over to Batman. He shifted again to lay on the floor, one arm tucked behind his head to support him.

“I think it’s clear enough to stargaze,” he said with a smile as he looked across the sky, “Look, there’s Orion.”

Batman looked up, his eyes following Joker’s. “How do you know the constellations?” he asked, intrigued.

It wasn’t unexpected for him to find them interesting, but he remembered John once telling him that he’d needed teaching how to play checkers.

“Sometimes I find it hard to sleep, in Arkham it wasn’t like I could do anything but stare out the window, so I picked up a book on constellations.”

Batman nodded, a soft frown coming to his face, “That must have been some pretty advanced reading.”

Joker scoffed, “Nah! In Arkham either you learn to read real quick or you die of boredom. I think I had it down in… a month, maybe.”

“Do you think you leaned it quicker because you knew it before?”

Joker scoffed, shaking his head, “Who knows! Stargazing certainly seems like something I’d be interested in.”

Batman smiled weakly, “I meant reading, not stargazing.”

Joker shrugged, “Who knows, Batman,” he repeated. He let out a soft sigh, “I love the constellations. I want to have a skylight installed in my room. That way I can just look up at the stars whenever I’m having trouble sleeping.”

Batman nodded, “That sounds like a nice idea, but don’t you usually come into my bed if you’re having trouble sleeping?”

Joker pouted, “Then maybe we should put a skylight above _your_ bed.”

Batman let out a soft sigh, looking back up at the stars. He could certainly see the appeal of laying in bed with John and watching the stars with him. Waking up to raindrops trickling down the glass. Being slowly woken by natural light shining on them.

“That does sound lovely,” he said after a moment.

He reached over to take Joker’s hand, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb. He looked down when he realised Joker wasn’t reciprocating. He let out a gentle chuckle, smiling softly.

He’d fallen asleep.

Batman ran his hand over Joker’s arm, hoping the small movement would wake him.

“Joker, wake up,” he said quietly, not wanting to startle him.

Joker’s eyes opened slowly, he lifted a hand to his head, “Sorry, what? I… Uh.”

“You fell asleep for a second,” Batman informed him. He straightened up, turning his head to get rid of the stiffness caused by staring upward. “Let’s go home, I think we’ve had enough for tonight.”


	14. Chapter 14

Bruce jumped as the phone rang. His eyes turned from the screen of the batcomputer to look at the number. He recognised it instantly, his heart leaping into his throat.

“Alfred?!” he said as he answered.

“Young master Bruce,” Alfred replied happily.

Bruce had never been so excited to hear his voice before, he paused for a second to absorb the emotion, smiling to himself.

“It’s so good to hear from you,” he said softly.

“Likewise, Bruce,” Alfred said, Bruce could practically hear the smile on his face. “I was hoping to catch up, if you have some time.”

“I always have time for you, Alfred,” Bruce replied. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up, he glanced at the computer screen.

Work could wait.

Alfred chuckled softly down the phone, “Yes, now that I’m not there all the time… I expect you miss our late-night chats.”

Bruce shook his head weakly, “I really do Alfred. It’s not the same without you.”

“I see you found a replacement though.”

Bruce frowned for a moment, unsure of what he meant. “Replacement? I could never replace you Alfred.”

Alfred let out another small chuckle, “I’m teasing you, Bruce. I meant that John boy. I heard you’re living together now.”

Bruce tipped his head back slightly, “Ah,” he murmured in understanding, “Yes, we are. I wouldn’t call him a replacement for you though, Alfred. Although he is very good at making tea… someone in Arkham taught him apparently, I never met the man though.”

“He is allowed friends outside of your social circle, Bruce,” Alfred advised. He let out a small sigh, “I just wanted to call and tell you how happy I am for you. I must say when I left I was very worried about how you’d cope.”

Bruce nodded, a weight coming to him as he thought back to that conversation. “Yeah…” he said weakly, “I think helping John with his recovery helped me focus myself.”

“Yes, someone like him presents some very unique challenges.”

Bruce shrugged, “You make it sound worse than it is… Once you get used to it it’s actually pretty enjoyable. He’s not any trouble, he just thinks differently.”

Alfred let out a soft huff, “I don’t think I could deal with him, Bruce, not the way you do.”

“Well I mean I…” Bruce felt discomfort rise in him, he cleared his throat, “I love him, Alfred.”

Alfred paused on the other end of the phone. “I can’t say I didn’t know that,” he said after a moment. “You did seem very close to him, very forgiving of his actions.”

Bruce closed his eyes, he couldn’t think of how to respond, guilt slowly filled him as he thought back. He hadn’t been fast enough to act and people had suffered for it.

“There’s nothing wrong with being in love, Bruce,” Alfred reassured him. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Alfred,” Bruce said quietly, struggling for words. “He’s doing better now,” he said, partially to comfort himself.

“Yes, so I’ve heard,” Alfred said, sounding a little less serious. “Tell me about it.” The sentence sounding a little forced, but Bruce could tell Alfred was trying to make things a little less uncomfortable.

Bruce smiled softly, letting out a small sigh. “Well…” suddenly everything they’d been doing together fell from his head, he couldn’t think of anything. “Oh, he took down a branch of Falcone’s old network.”

Alfred chuckled weakly, “You sound proud of him.” He let out a soft sigh, “I remember how proud of you I was after your first big bust.”

“You made me lobster thermidor,” Bruce recalled fondly, a smile spreading across his face.

“I expect it’s a little different for you and John, you have a different kind of relationship.”

“I’m very proud of my boyfriend.”

“As I am very proud of my son.”

There was another moment of silence between them, this one a lot happier.

“It sounds like you really do love him,” Alfred observed.

Bruce nodded, sighing happily, “I do,” he confirmed. “He’s so…” he gave his head a soft shake, “He’s amazing.” He felt himself smiling, “He’s always got something to say. His view of the world is so interesting, and he’s…” he chuckled and shook his head, “Sorry. I don’t mean to go on.”

“Oh by all means, Bruce, do go on, I’ve never heard you this happy.” Alfred let out a soft sigh, “It makes me regret leaving, I wish I could see it first hand.”

Bruce’s eyes widened a little, “Why don’t you come over? I’d love to introduce him to you as my boyfriend.”

Alfred let out a soft hum, “I think I’d like that. Just a for a weekend though, I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome, I know what people are like when they’re in a new relationship.”

Bruce scoffed, “We’re not that bad, Alfred. We know how to control ourselves.”

“I’m sure that’s what you think,” Alfred said with a chuckle.

“How about the weekend at the beginning of next month?” He frowned, “I do have therapy on Friday evenings, but I can probably move that to Thursday.”

“Therapy?” Alfred almost gasped, a shocked tone to his voice. “Master Bruce you’re in therapy?”

Bruce nodded, “Yes, Alfred, I know it seems unlikely. It’s just for relationship stuff. John has some, uh, special issues when it comes to intimacy and it turns out I do as well.”

“Well,” Alfred said with a huff, “That isn’t so surprising, given what you’ve both been through. It sounds like you’re both helping each other, Bruce.”

“I suppose we are,” Bruce said, nodding.

“It sounds as if John is very good for you. I can’t wait to meet him properly, now he’s a little better adjusted.”

Bruce bit his lip, “Yeah… Well he’s always going to have his quirks.”

“I suppose everyone does who’s been through trauma like he has.”

Bruce hummed softly, nodding.

He jolted as a notification flashed up on the computer screen in front of him, alerting him that someone had entered the cave.

“Oh,” he said softly, “I think John’s just come in.” He turned in his chair to see John walking toward him, a tray of food in his hands.

“I made noodles!” John said loudly, smile gleaming on his face as he placed the tray on the table.

“I’m on the phone,” Bruce informed him.

“Oh!” John said, excitement building in him, “Who is it?”

“It’s Alfred,” Bruce informed him, “Just give me a minute.”

“Tell him I say hi!”

Bruce chuckled softly, nodding and turning his attention back to the phone, “He says hi.”

Alfred gave a soft chuckle that mirrored Bruce’s, “Tell him I say hello back. I heard him say he’d brought you food, I’ll leave you to eat your lunch.”

“It’s more breakfast, actually,” Bruce smiled. “Ok, I’ll talk to you later about your visit.”

John gasped from behind him, “A visit? Alfred’s coming over?!” he let out a squeak, clapping his hands together, “That’ll be so fun!”

Alfred let out a happy huff down the phone, “I can already see why you like him so much. Yes, we’ll talk later. Have a good day master Bruce.”

Bruce nodded, “You too,” he said before hanging up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little short, but the next chapter is longer to make up for it

John sat at the breakfast counter, his back to the door.

Bruce watched him from the doorframe, taking in the sight of him, absorbing the feel of the morning.

The smell of overcooked bacon filled his nostrils, the sound of John humming to himself as he ate, tapping his foot against the metal bar of his stool.

John turned his head to look at Bruce. He wasn’t sure what had alerted John to his presence, if he’d made some noise or something.

The pale man had sleep in the corners of his eyes, bags underneath them. Even first thing in the morning John was beautiful. The way his hair was mussed and his pyjamas were askew.

“You’re fucking smitten aren’t you?” John said, looking Bruce up and down, the corners of his mouth curling into a sleepy smile.

Bruce nodded, he walked towards the breakfast counter, extending a hand to run it through John’s messy hair.

“I made you breakfast,” John said, gesturing to a plate of slightly burned bacon with a glass of orange juice next to it.

“It looks lovely,” Bruce smiled, sitting down next to John.

“I burned it” John informed him, as if it weren’t obvious.

“I see that,” Bruce nodded, picking up and piece and eating it regardless. “Must be because you’re tired.”

John shrugged, “Or I’m just shit at cooking.”

“Maybe you could take a class?” Bruce suggested, “You might make some friends, and I think you’d be good at it, cooking’s very precise.”

John hummed and nodded, “We weren’t allowed to cook in Arkham, not after, uh, that time _someone_ hit _someone else_ with a frying pan _totally by accident_.”

Bruce let out a huffed chuckle. “You did what?”

John clapped his hand to his chest, his mouth lulling open a little, “I didn’t say it was me who did the hitting.” He shook his head, “Why do you think I have two fake teeth?”

“Who hit you?”

John held up a hand, “I’m not telling you anything else, I don’t want to give your unresolved anger issues any more ammo.”

“My what?” Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” John squeaked, his voice pitched. He paused and chuckled, reaching out an arm to give Bruce a soft shove. “I love you,” he said sweetly. “Maybe we should take a class together?” he leant over to hug Bruce’s arm, “You can be my comfort item.”

Bruce hummed and nodded, “I suppose that would be fun. It would be a nice opportunity for us to go out as a couple, it’s a controlled environment so it might be a little more comfortable.”

“Yay!” John said happily, pulling away and shoving his last piece of bacon into his mouth.

“I’ll look online and book us something.”

“Ok,” John nodded happily. He got to his feet and picked up his plate along with Bruce’s.

“I’m not finished,” Bruce said, a hint of confusion to his voice.

John scoffed, “You’re not going to eat this, it’s _disgusting_. Make yourself some cereal.”

“That’s… yeah,” Bruce said with a nod. He got to his feet and walked to the cupboard, taking a breakfast bar. “I’ll cook bacon for you tomorrow.”

“Aw, thankyou,” John cooed. He tipped the burned bacon into the bin and then put the plates in the dishwasher. “I hope you do a better job than I did…”

Bruce sighed softly and shook his head, “You were up all night, John, it’s not your fault you can’t concentrate. Drink some coffee _before_ you start cooking, that might help.”

“Not my fault I was up all night.”

“You say that, but no one forced you to stay up on your phone until 6am.”

John smirked, “My _brain_ forced me,” he tapped his temple with his forefinger, “This guy is _not_ my friend.”

Bruce smiled weakly, he took a step towards John and took his head in his hand, pulling him in to kiss his forehead.

John let out a gentle chuckle, “I don’t think daddy-kisses will fix that.” He pulled away, “That’s why therapy exists.”

“Speaking of which,” Bruce patting John on the arm, “What time is your session?”

John’s eyes widened, “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I moved it to Friday this week, Joan has, uh,” he frowned, glancing away, “A wedding? Funeral?” he waved his hand, “Something? I forgot to remember that.”

Bruce smiled, “Then we’ve got a full day together? With nothing to do?”

John smiled widely, suddenly buzzing with happiness, “Oh! If I don’t have therapy and you don’t have work, _that_ means that we can have a lazy day!” He moved closer to Bruce, putting his hands on his hips, “We’ll sit together on the sofa, watch a bunch of films, eat a load of popcorn and chocolate.”

Bruce smiled and nodded, “That sounds nice.”

John let out a small happy squeak, shifting on his feet, “It really does. Is there anything you want to do? We’ve got the whole day.”

Bruce shrugged, “If you don’t mind, later I’d like to take you down to the cave and do some training with you. I’ve noticed that your aim’s a little off, I think you need some practice.”

John nodded, cocking his head a little, “That sounds fun. Not as fun as junk food and tv but still fun.”

“It’s fun for me,” Bruce said softly.

John nodded, “It’s fun for me too, but it’s more like work, though of course that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it.”

“I’m glad you enjoy it. Most people can only dream of enjoying their work.”

John chuckled, “So I’m doing better than most people.” He nodded, “That’s good to know.”


	16. Chapter 16

John squeaked happily, rocking on his feet, wringing his hands together. “He’s going to be here soon!” he said, excitedly.

Bruce nodded, “Yes he is,” he chuckled weakly, “You seem more excited about it than me.”

John shrugged, “I’m just better at showing it than you.” He let out another squeak, “I should make some tea.”

“You’re already making tea,” Bruce reminded him.

“Ugh!” John groaned loudly, “I need something to do with my hands! I’m so excited my skin feels like it’s crawling.”

Bruce looked around, “I have that Rubik’s cube somewhere around here, that should help, right?”

John nodded, “That’s a good idea, I’ll go get it.”

He hurried out, Bruce watched him go, a smile on his face.

John was nervous.

It was understandable. Neither of them had seen Alfred in over 2 years.

Bruce was nervous too.

“Here it is,” John called, coming back in with a Rubik’s cube in his hand. “I already feel better,” he said with a smile.

He plopped down on the sofa next to Bruce, looping his legs over Bruce’s and fixing his eyes on the cube, beginning to fiddle with it.

“Do you think he’ll like me..?” he asked after a moment, his voice soft and quiet.

Bruce ran his hand over one of John’s legs, watching him play with the cube. “You know it’s not the first time you’ve met.”

John let out a soft hum, “It might as well be. The last time I was… y’know… I was in a bad place.”

Bruce nodded, “I know. Don’t worry. He already likes you, and he knows how I feel about you so he’ll pretend he does even if he doesn’t.”

John let out a small whine, his hands moving quickly as he finished one side of the cube. “Don’t tell me that…”

“It was a joke,” Bruce said with a smile. “Let me text him and see where he is.”

“I hope he likes me, I hope he likes me,” John whined again.

“He will,” Bruce said sternly as he pulled out his phone and wrote a message. “I know you’re worried but it’s coming from an irrational place, John. You’re fine. He will like you.”

Alfred messaged back a few seconds later.

“He’s just outside.”

John hopped up from the sofa, almost kicking Bruce as he moved. “Does my hair look ok?” he asked quickly.

“You look amazing,” Bruce said, lifting himself to his feet, he pulled John in for a kiss. He hoped it would relax him, but he could feel John’s lips pursing a little through discomfort, Bruce knew there must be hundreds of thoughts running through his head.

Their kiss broke at the sound of a knock at the door. John did look a little happier.

“That’ll be him,” Bruce said quietly, his eyes lingering on John for a moment before he pulled away. “Just relax, John.”

He opened the door with a smile, Alfred smiling back.

Alfred pulled him into a tight hug, his voice filled with emotion as he spoke, “Master Bruce, it’s so good to see you again,” he let out a weak chuckle, “I forgot how tall you are.”

He looked over Bruce’s shoulder, his eyes settling on John, his smile softening a little. “And you must be John,” he said, as if they hadn’t met before.

John stepped forward and shook Alfred’s hand vigorously, “That’s me, and you’re Alfred, it’s good to meet you.”

Bruce chuckled lightly, astonished that they were both holding up the pretence. Alfred and Joker had met, not Alfred and John.

“You are quite a strapping young man,” Alfred observed as John let go of his hand, looking him up and down, “…I didn’t know you’d kept the hair colour.”

John seemed to tense up a little, “Oh, it’s natural,” he forced, letting out a nervous chuckle.

“John,” Bruce interrupted, “You were making tea, remember.”

His eyes lit up, “Oh! Yes, I was,” he gave a small nod to Alfred and walked out of the room to get the tray of tea he’d prepared.

“He is an excitable boy isn’t he,” Alfred said with a smile. He turned his eyes to Bruce, “I must say, he seems the polar opposite to you.”

Bruce nodded, smiling weakly, “Opposites attract, they say.”

Alfred let out a weak hum in agreement, “It’s a good thing you met how you did, in another life you could easily have been mortal enemies.”

Bruce chuckled, “I’m sure…” he cleared his throat, glancing back at Alfred’s bag, “Will you be staying in your usual room? Or would you like to stay in the guest bedroom?”

“I think I’ll have the guest bedroom,” Alfred said with a smile. “It’ll be a pleasant change of pace.”

Bruce nodded, “Whatever you want.” He clasped his hands together, “Should we go into the lounge? You’ll want a rest after traveling, right?”

Alfred nodded, “That sounds like a lovely idea, Bruce.”

Bruce wasn’t used to hosting Alfred, of course he probably didn’t need to as Alfred had lived at least half his life in this house, but in some strange way it felt like the right thing to do. He felt his chest swell as he lead Alfred through to the lounge, where John was already pouring tea. He’d laid out a selection of finger sandwiches and cakes as well, Bruce couldn’t help but smile at the sight. He’d really tried his hardest.

John looked up with a smile, pouring out the tea and milk into the small teacups he’d found. “Would you like sugar in yours, Alfred?” he asked happily.

“No, thankyou,” Alfred said as he sat down in one of the armchairs, “And, so you know, it’s customary to add sugar before the milk.”

John’s smile dropped, he looked down at the cups he’d poured, “Oh,” he said flatly, “Oh, I uh, I didn’t know that.”

Alfred leant forward to take his tea, “It’s quite alright, John, there is a learning curve to these things. If you’d like I could teach you?”

John nodded, forcing a smile, “I guess so, it sounds fun.” He sat down on the sofa and looked over at Bruce, “Why don’t you sit down… Do you want tea?”

“I would love tea,” Bruce said as he sat next to John.

“Master Bruce tells me you make rather good tea,” Alfred informed him, lifting his cup to his lips and taking a sip.

“Oh?” John said, looking over at Bruce, “I hope you didn’t play it up too much.” His voice had a weak tone to it, he was still nervous.

“I don’t think he did you justice,” Alfred said with a smile. Bruce wasn’t sure if he meant it or if he’d realised that he’d put John on edge with his correction.

John lit up at the compliment, “Really?” he laughed softly, “That’s great to hear, I’m glad you like it.” He shifted on his chair, taking a sip of his own cup of tea, “The trick is to put a sprinkle of cinnamon into the mix,” he paused for a second, “A, uh, a friend told me.”

Alfred cocked his head, “Really? You friend really does sound like my kind of person, I hope you still keep in touch.”

John nodded, “Yeah, I pop in to see him every Thursday after, uh,” his eyes dropped for a second, his voice going quiet, “After therapy.”

Alfred smiled, “Yes, Bruce told me you attend therapy together. I think it’s very good that you’re trying to help each other the way you are.”

John’s eyes turned to Bruce. Obviously he didn’t know how much Bruce had told Alfred, Bruce couldn’t help wondering how much John had wanted him to tell, they should really have talked about it previously.

“I told Alfred about our couples’ therapy,” Bruce said to ease John. “I didn’t want to go into it too much because I didn’t know how much you’d be comfortable with sharing.”

John nodded, “Oh, ok,” he smiled, letting out a small breath, “Well, I also go to therapy by myself, part of my probation for Arkham. It’s been really good for me.”

Bruce smiled as John continued on, he wasn’t sure why but it seemed he’d suddenly decided he was comfortable talking about it with Alfred, it was as if a switch had flipped inside him, maybe he could tell how much Bruce trusted him.

“Joan has helped me cope with my memory loss and my anger issues and helped me adjust to life outside, and _now_ she’s helping me and Bruce figure out our relationship.” His smile widened, “And I have proper diagnosis’s now; I’m not just _weird_ , I’m autistic, there’s reasons and solutions for everything…” he nodded, “It’s been a good few years for me.”

His eyes flit between Bruce and Alfred, “Sorry, I,” he chuckled, he reached over to pick up Bruce’s Rubik’s cube, beginning to fiddle with it. “I still get a bit carried away sometimes.”

“It’s ok, John,” Bruce said softly, he reached over to put his hand on John’s knee.

“It’s good to hear that you’re progressing,” Alfred agreed. “It sounds like you’re both in good hands with this Joan woman.”

“Yeah,” John said quietly, his eyes fixed on the Rubik’s cube. “She’s great. I look up to her, really. She tries so hard to help people.”

“Yes, and she manages to do it within the law as well,” Alfred said with a smirk.

John looked up at him, a soft blush to his face, he let out a weak laugh, shifting where he sat, still playing with the cube.

Bruce looked between them, amused by their charade. “She’s a very good woman,” he added with a nod. He looked down at the sandwiches and cakes on the table, “Now, shall we try some of these sandwiches. John made them himself.”


	17. Chapter 17

John entered Bruce’s bedroom, silently and carefully, as if he thought Bruce were asleep despite the light being on and Bruce clearly sitting up with a book in his hand.

He slipped into the bed next to Bruce, wrapping an arm around him and snuggling into the side of Bruce’s chest.

“What’s up..?” Bruce asked in a stage whisper, putting his book on the bedside table.

John let out a high-pitched hum, pressing his forehead against Bruce’s skin.

“John?” Bruce said softly, not sure what was going on in John’s head.

John didn’t respond. He pulled himself closer to Bruce, moving slightly to kiss his skin.

Bruce smiled, running his hand slowly over John’s arm to comfort him.

Obviously something was bothering him, he’d answer when he was ready.

“I’m embarrassed,” John squeaked, his voice barely audible.

Bruce frowned, “Why’s that?” he asked, his hand still moving up and down John’s arm.

John burrowed deeper into Bruce’s side, as if he were trying to hide from the outside world. “I did something embarrassing, _obviously_.”

Bruce held back a chuckle. “What did you do?”

John let out a soft whine as he replayed the scene in his head. “I touched your butt.”

Bruce snorted softly, still trying to hold back that chuckle. “You do that quite often, John.”

“But this time Alfred saw me!” John said, the volume of his voice lost against Bruce’s skin. “He saw me touch your butt!”

Bruce shook his head, lifting his hand to run his fingers through John’s hair, his smile widening. “He’s seen worse things, John, it’s nothing to be embarrassed over.”

John pulled away from Bruce, looking up at him with a soft frown to his face, “Really?” he said sceptically. “If I saw someone touching my kid’s butt I’d take them into the woods and shoot them!”

Bruce raised an eyebrow, “I’d prefer if you didn’t.” He smiled weakly, shaking his head, “As I said Alfred’s seen worse, he’s walked in on me with my girlfriends before… I don’t think he’ll think anything of it.”

John let out a huff, thinking for a moment. He reached out and took Bruce’s hand, fiddling with his fingers. “I wouldn’t care usually,” he said quietly, “But it’s _Alfred_ , he’s like your dad! I want to make a good impression! I don’t want him to think I’m only into you for your body or something.”

Finally, Bruce let himself laugh. “He knows you’re not,” he shook his head again, more firmly this time. “You don’t usually care about that sort of thing, Alfred must be a really big fish for you.”

John nodded, “Yeah, like a whale or something.” He huffed, looking away, he shifted in the bed to get into a more comfortable position. “I just want him to like me,” he said quietly, “If he doesn’t I’ll be _super_ upset.”

“He likes you,” Bruce assured him. He paused for a moment, “He does think it’s a little strange that we don’t share a bed every night.”

John let out a small hum, “…That is a bit strange, I suppose,” he mumbled, “Most _normal_ couples do it.”

“We’re not a normal couple,” Bruce said, smiling. He swallowed hard, “But… there are times I wish you slept here every night.”

“Maybe I should do, then, if it means so much to you,” John pouted playfully.

“I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“I’m not uncomfortable with it,” John stated.

Bruce stared down at John, smiling weakly. “If you’re not uncomfortable with it..?”

John looked up at Bruce, a grin on his face, “Are you asking me to move in?” as he spoke he reached out to brush his hand over Bruce’s stomach.

Bruce’s smile widened to match John’s, “Are you saying you want to move in?”

“I’m not saying any such thing,” John said, still grinning. “You’re the one who brought it up.”

The shared a look for a moment. They both knew what the other was trying to do.

Bruce let out a deep sigh, running his hand through John’s hair, he shook his head weakly. “Are we going to keep doing this forever, John?”

John gave Bruce’s stomach a soft pat. “It’s fun, Brucie.” He chewed his lip for a moment, “Ok, ok, I’ll come clean…” he sat up on the bed, crossing his legs, “I like having my own room. I like sleeping in your bed but I mean,” he gave the sheets a tug, “Look at these. Black on black on a greyer shade of black. It’s boring. My room is so colourful and it’s my own space. Sometimes I want to sleep without you kicking me all night.”

Bruce nodded as John talked, the smile on his face softening. “I understand, John… I’m not saying that you can’t still have your own room, having space to yourself is important.”

“You just want me to sleep exclusively in your bed?”

Bruce glanced away, “Essentially, yes.”

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll be here every night, Bruce,” John said with a shake of his head.

Bruce let out a soft breath as he thought of how to respond, he couldn’t say it didn’t hurt. Part of him had considered that some nights John wasn’t here simply because he didn’t want to be, but he’d told himself that wasn’t true, now he knew it was.

John looked him up and down, letting out a soft whine, “Fuck, I’ve upset you, haven’t I?” He knit his hands in his lap, Bruce could see the cogs turning in his head, trying to figure out how to make everything better. “I just I…” he shook his head, “I need to be able to choose, Bruce.”

Bruce nodded, still and quiet. He let out a soft huff, giving another firmer nod, “Ok.” He forced a smile, “I think we might need to bring it up in therapy. Just so we can understand each other.”

John swallowed hard, nodded, “Ok… Can I still sleep with you tonight?”

Bruce nodded, patting the pillow next to him to invite him. “Of course.”

John lay down tentatively, nuzzling into Bruce’s chest again, “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

“Maybe in time..?” Bruce said, smiling weakly.

John nodded, “Yeah. Probably…” he let out a deep sigh as he shifted into a more comfortable position. “Fuck, I still can’t believe Alfred saw me touch your butt… and now I’ve upset you? Today has been such a bad day.”

Bruce smiled, wrapping his arm around John. “It sounds like your life’s improved a lot if this is a bad day for you now.”

John nodded, “Yeah, I guess.” He smiled, “If me 2 years ago heard me complaining about this he’d probably shoot me.”


	18. Chapter 18

Bruce looked up from his laptop. It had been quiet for a little while now, but he’d been too focussed on his work to really pay attention to why.

He let out a small huff as he looked at the tv, a small notice on it which read ‘Would you like to continue watching Breaking Bad?’

John had the remote. He was usually very anal about having the tv playing constantly. Why hadn’t he played it?

Bruce looked over at him, he was tapping away happily at his laptop, letting out tiny tittered breaths of laughter.

“What’re you laughing at?”

John looked up from the laptop, waving his hand dismissively, “Oh, nothing, just something someone sent me.”

“Oh?” Bruce smiled, “What’s that?”

John let out a slightly louder laugh, “Someone drew me a picture of me, but as a dog. Look,” he turned the laptop, showing a picture of a white terrier with a green tuft on its head, surrounded by piles of plush toys.

Bruce let out a weak chuckle, “That’s pretty good…” his smile weakened slightly, “Who drew it for you?”

John shrugged, “I don’t know their real name, they go by Jazz. They _really_ like drawing dogs.”

“Why are they drawing things for you?” Bruce asked, trying to keep a friendly happy tone.

John smiled widely, shrugging again, “People send me things all the time, they like my stories about you, they like my calligraphy, they _really_ love my plushies.”

Bruce frowned slightly, “You put your calligraphy online? You tell stories about me?”

John looked up and him and nodded pointedly, “What do you think I do on here all day, Bruce? There’s only so much youtube I can watch.” His smile widened again, “People ask me to write swearwords and birthday messages and stuff, they really love that glittery ink you got me.”

Bruce smiled, it was good to know that John had a creative outlet that people actually liked. He’d taken up calligraphy just after moving in with Bruce, he decided he’d like to make his own cards as it was more heartfelt than buying them.

“…What kind of stories do you tell them about me?” he asked after a moment.

John shrugged again, “Just day to day stuff, like uh,” he clicked on the laptop, scrolling through whatever site he was on, “I talked about how you got me that clicky toy, they loved that, they keep asking me where I get everything. It’s nice,” he let out a small happy sigh, “There’s a whole bunch of people on here who need the same kinda things I need, it’s nice having people to talk about it with.”

Bruce smiled and nodded, “That’s really good, it’s nice you’ve found some friends.”

John nodded, “Yeah,” he perked up, “I put up a picture of the card I wrote for Alfred and over a thousand people have seen it.”

“A thousand?” Bruce said, shocked, a small weight coming to his stomach. “John, you haven’t uh, you don’t talk about Batman and Joker on there, do you?”

John scoffed, “Of course not.” He grinned, “They know I met Batman though, I posted the picture I have, so many people have seen that one.”

Bruce nodded, “That’s good. Have you posted pictures of me?”

John shook his head, “No,” he frowned, “I knew you wouldn’t like it, people keep asking me though.”

Bruce frowned softly, “You could have asked me. I’m sure you have a couple of nice photos I wouldn’t mind being posted.”

John chewed his lip, glancing away for a moment, he hummed and pulled out his phone, tapping his foot as he looked through his photos. “I don’t know… I’d want a really special one of me _and_ you. I don’t want other people stealing it and saying it’s theirs.”

“Why don’t we take one now?” Bruce said, running his fingers through his hair to smooth it out a little.

“Can it be a kiss picture?!” John said with a happy squeak.

Bruce hummed in thought, it would be a nice way to show their relationship to the public. He nodded, “Ok, whatever you want.”

John squeaked again, hopping to his feet, “Oh this is going to be so nice! It’ll be such a casual picture. I don’t think the world has seen you without a suit on before,” he chuckled, “Let alone slobbing around in sweats.”

“People will get a kick out of it,” Bruce smirked. “But this isn’t permission to post pictures of me all the time, ok?”

John nodded rapidly, “Ok, I get it.” He stepped up to Bruce, pulling him close and holding up his phone to take the picture, he turned Bruce’s head with his hand and kissed him gently on the lips.

“One more,” John said as he broke the kiss, this time he leaned in to kiss Bruce on the cheek, Bruce looked up at the camera with a weak smile on his face as John took the picture.

They pulled apart and John looked down at the phone, swiping through the pictures he took. “Aw, Bruce you look _beautiful_.” He held up the phone to show Bruce.

Bruce looked at the phone, smiling to himself. John looked so happy. “Let’s take one more of me kissing you,” he suggested.

John’s eyes lit up, “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Bruce said with a smile, he wrapped his arm around John and pulled him in to kiss him on the cheek, he could feel the blush radiating from his skin.

John giggled as he took a photo, looking at Bruce as he pulled away. There was so much love and life in his eyes.

“Aw, we look so cute!” he squealed.

“You look smitten,” Bruce said with a smile, “Put that one up first.”

John nodded, “Ok.” He giggled again, “Oh, people are gunna eat this up, Bruce. I bet they’ll be begging for more.”

Bruce smiled, “Well they’ll have those three for now. Perhaps we’ll make it a regular thing, if it’s received well.”

John gasped softly, “Oh I would love that!” he smiled, reaching out to rub Bruce’s arm, “I love getting to show you off.”

“I like it too,” Bruce said with a soft smile, leaning in to give John another kiss. “I love getting to see you so happy.”


	19. -nsfw chapter-

John lay on the bed. Bruce could see him in his periphery.

He wasn’t sure exactly what the man was doing, and he was too focussed on his research to look over. There had been a few robberies and arsons around the local banks, there was no doubt in his mind that there was a pattern between them that he couldn’t see yet.

He was probably just reading a book or playing on his phone.

“Bruce,” John cooed behind him.

He held up his hand, “Just one second… I think I’m on to something here.”

John whined behind him, “Bruce,” he cooed again, “Pay attention to me, please.”

Bruce turned his head, his face blanking at what he saw.

The bed was covered in rose petals, John lay atop the sheets practically naked.

“John… What are you doing?”

John smiled, “Surprising you, for your _birthday_.”

Bruce let out a huffed chuckle, shaking his head, “My birthday’s next week.”

“If I did it on your birthday how would that be surprising?” he chuckled softly, “The look on your face right now, _priceless_ ,” he bit his lip and closed one eye, holding up his hands as if he were holding a camera. “I wish I could take a picture of that look.”

Bruce chuckled softly, his head bowing slightly.

“Keep it in my wallet,” John smirked, lowering his hands.

Bruce looked back up at John, taking in the sight of him. “Are you sure you’re ready for this kind of thing?”

They still hadn’t moved past hand stuff. It had been months, almost a year maybe? Bruce hadn’t been keeping track. Joan had told them that keeping track and setting dates and deadlines was a dangerous thing to do.

John wasn’t ready for anything more, Bruce was sure of it, and he was fine with that.

John nodded, “I’m sure,” he said firmly. “I’ve been mentally preparing for like… a _week_.”

Bruce swallowed hard, nodding weakly. He was sure John wasn’t ready, he might want to try but he knew they wouldn’t get further than touching. Bruce was fine with it, but he knew John would get frustrated.

He wished he could convince John that he didn’t need to push himself, but he knew there was no use, and John was obviously going out of his way this time.

Bruce smiled weakly at John, lifting himself up from his chair and moving to the bed, leaning in to kiss him.

They sunk into a passionate kiss. John cupped Bruce’s face and moved to lay back on the bed, using the kiss to lead him.

John wrapped his legs around him, lifting his hips to grind their crotches together.

Bruce could feel how hard John was, he moaned into John’s mouth, the kiss deepening.

John broke the kiss, looking Bruce up and down, “Take off your clothes,” he said, the words sounding almost like an order.

Bruce nodded and pulled away, he began to strip himself off, throwing his clothes on the floor carelessly. He looked back up at John to see he’d removed his boxers and now lay there naked.

Dark green hair and almost white skin.

“You have no idea how attractive you look right now,” Bruce hummed.

“Oh, but I do,” John smiled up at him, “I’ve spent a long time preparing for this today.”

Bruce smiled, looking him up and down, taking a moment to appreciate him, it occurred to him that John must be doing the same thing. “I wish you’d told me, then I could be equally prepared.”

John shook his head, “Nah, I feel like that would have made me nervous. This way I feel more in control.”

Bruce nodded, that did make sense, if Bruce had known this were coming he would have overthought it, perhaps even tried to talk John out of it.

He leaned in to kiss him again, John kissing back messily.

“You know if you…” Bruce cleared his throat to stop his voice cracking, “If you really want to feel in control then maybe you should ride me.”

The words felt strange leaving him, he hadn’t been expecting this to happen today.

John nodded, “That’s a good idea, almost like it was what I was planning to do,” he chuckled weakly and pulled Bruce in for another kiss.

Bruce moved onto the bed, running his hands over John as they continued kissing, moaning into each other’s mouths. Slowly Bruce lay down, guiding John on top of him.

John broke their kiss, pinning Bruce to the bed and looking down at him, an intoxicated smile on his face. He began rotating his hips at an achingly painful pace, grinding their cocks together. His smile grew as Bruce let out a deep moan.

“You really like me, don’t you Bruce,” John purred, running his fingers over Bruce’s chest.

Bruce nodded listlessly, “I do, I love you, John,” he confirmed. He ran his hand carefully up and down John’s leg, enjoying the feel of him. “…You’re sure you want to do this?” he asked, almost out of habit.

John nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure, I want to show you how much you mean to me.”

“If you feel uncomfortable you can stop,” Bruce said to clarify, to remind him.

John smiled, running his hand over Bruce’s chest again. “I know, Bruce. Don’t worry about me, I’m ok. I’ll stop if I need to,” he gave his head a soft shake, “Just stop worrying and let me do this for you.”

John shifted, lifting himself up slightly, he took Bruce’s cock and stroked it softly. “I’m going to have you inside me today one way or another. As I said, Bruce, I’ve planned this out.”

He leaned over to the bedside table, picking up a small bottle of apple flavoured lube. He must have brought that in when he was setting up.

Bruce felt himself relax a little at what John had said, if he had a back up plan then it was less likely that he’d push himself, less likely that he’d get too frustrated.

“What about protection?” Bruce asked.

John shrugged, “I’ll use it if you want but I don’t think we need it, it’s not like you’ve got anything, right?” he smirked as he poured the lube out onto his hand, playing with it between his fingers. He let out a soft breath as he slathered it over the head of Bruce’s dick. Bruce couldn’t help moaning at the touch, John looked up at him and smiled, wrapping his hand tight around Bruce’s length and pumping him slowly, spreading the lube over him.

“John, fuck,” Bruce hissed, his toes curling at the sensation.

John nodded weakly, “I know, feels good doesn’t it, Batsy?”

Bruce watched with wide eyes as John removed his hand from Bruce and moved his lubed fingers back towards himself.

He resisted the urge to ask how much prep John had put into this, he looked on as John began to touch himself, his fingers moving to his hole and slipping in slowly.

John let out a low groan as he pushed his fingers into himself, his lidded eyes lifting to meet Bruce’s.

“Not the first time you’ve done that,” Bruce growled as he watched.

John shook his head, pushing his fingers in deeper, “I’ve had some practice, whenever I’m alone and thinking about you,” he replied breathlessly.

Bruce groaned softly, his head filling with images of John fingering himself whenever they’d been texting about sex.

“You’re so hot, John,” Bruce said quietly.

John let out a moan in response, closing his eyes as he pushed his fingers deep into himself.

Bruce reached out to take John’s cock in his hand, stroking him slowly.

“Oh, shit,” John hissed out, he opened his eyes and looked down at himself, watching Bruce touch him. “I’m going to ride you all night, Bruce,” he growled.

Bruce bit his lip, he bucked his hips up slightly, the head of his cock brushing against the base of John’s.

John let out a breath as he continued to watch. Slowly he pulled his fingers out, moving his hand back to Bruce’s cock. He moved himself forward a little, angling Bruce’s cock so the tip brushed against his hole.

Bruce groaned at the feeling of him, the look on his face was exquisite, his eyes glassed and a pink flush of pleasure covering his face. “You’re so amazing, John,” he said softly, his hand trailing up and down John’s leg again.

John smiled, looking down at Bruce. He bit his lip and pressed down slowly against Bruce’s tip, his eyes closing as it began to enter him.

He git his teeth, his eyes screwing shut.

He let out a small pained whine, and pulled off again.

“Shit!” he said loudly, exhaling hard.

“It’s ok,” Bruce said calmly, continuing to run his hand over John’s leg. “Don’t push yourself.”

John pulled away, sitting between Bruce’s knees. “I really though I could do it this time,” he chuckled weakly in defeat.

“This is further than you’ve ever got before. I’m proud of you for trying, John.”

John scoffed, “Thanks, but pride isn’t going to make you come.”

Bruce sat up on the bed, looking John up and down. “You said you had a backup plan.”

John closed his eyes again, shaking his head, “I don’t think I can, it’s like a switch has gone in my head.” He leant forward, cupping his face in his hands, “Fuck.”

Bruce held up his hand, “We don’t have to do anything, this was good, John.” He smiled, “You looked really good touching yourself. I didn’t know you did that.”

John looked up at him, a weak smile on his face. “Yeah?” he said quietly, his smile grew, “I do it a lot,” he mumbled, a slight growl to his tone.

Bruce let out a soft hum, “I’d like to watch that some time.”

John chuckled, “I could bring some toys in.”

Bruce nodded, “I’d like that, I wouldn’t even have to touch you.”

“I could bring toys in for you too?”

Bruce let out a laugh of disbelief, “Do you have that many toys?”

John shrugged, “I get by.” He let out a soft hum and lifted himself on the bed, leaning over to kiss Bruce. “We can try it next week? As a birthday not-surprise.”

Bruce nodded again, “Ok. No pressure though, if one of us wants to back out it’s ok.”

“I’m not going to back out,” John said firmly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Until now I've been working on a 'write three chapters ahead' system, however the past few days have been pretty hectic! my cat had to go to the vet and I've had a couple of editing/writing things so I've been working on them, and I've run out of back up chapters D:  
> Hopefully I'll be able to keep up posting one chapter per day as I have done for the past 19 days, but I cant promise anything.


	20. Chapter 20

Batman quickly made his way back to the batmobile. Joker wasn’t answering his calls and Batman didn’t know why.

Most likely of course he’d gotten distracted by something or bored of sitting around and left the car despite Batman’s clear instructions not to, he’d gone to get a coffee or something… but Batman still couldn’t help worrying.

It’d been a tough few weeks, confrontations and puzzles non-stop, Batman wouldn’t blame John for wanting a little break. He knew that there was a doughnut shop only a few blocks away, with his sweet tooth Joker had probably gone there.

Even if something bad had happened there was no doubt in Batman’s mind that Joker would be able to handle it.

Joker was a very good fighter, even when he was unprepared he was very quick thinking and creative, and he had an immense amount of core strength, he’d beaten Batman a fair amount of times while fighting.

Joker would be fine.

He was fine.

Batman tried to call him again.

Again it rang off with no answer.

Batman’s stomach turned in discomfort, he had a bad feeling he couldn’t shake, like something was wrong but he couldn’t see what. “Damn it,” he growled to himself.

He grappled up to the rooftops, beginning to sprint across towards the spot where he’d parked the car, praying to himself that he’d still find it there.

What if something had happened?

What if he’d been attacked?

He stopped at the edge of the building, looking down to where they’d parked, his eyes strained for a second as he looked for the car.

A deep breath left him as he saw it.

He grappled himself down the side of the building, squinting at the car to check if anyone was inside.

He could just about make Joker out.

But something seemed wrong.

He was slumped in the seat, his head tilted to one side.

Batman ran up to the car, flinging the door open.

“Joker?” he said quickly, looking him up and down.

He looked ok, no sign of attack or injury. He was just slumped in the chair, his eyes closed.

Was he unconscious?

He frowned and lifted Joker’s hand to check his pulse on his wrist.

It seemed fine, steady and strong.

Joker let out a soft groan, pulling his hand away.

“Stop touching me,” he mumbled sleepily.

Batman felt a wave of relief flow through him, leaving him in a soft breathy laugh. He’d known nothing was wrong, he wasn’t sure why he’d began to worry so much.

He shook his head and walked around to the drivers seat.

As he sat down he looked at the dashboard. There were 7 missed calls, all from him. He frowned and cleared them, shaking his head again.

Why had Joker not woken up and answered him? What if he’d been in trouble.

He looked over at Joker, watching him sleep for a moment, watching his chest rise and fall.

Maybe they’d been going a little too hard recently. Batman couldn’t say he hadn’t felt it too. He’d gotten perhaps 5 hours of solid sleep in the past week with small 20-minute naps at points in the day. He could feel his mind straining and his body wasn’t doing much better, he felt tired just from that short run across the roof.

Joker falling asleep on watch like this, Batman had been unable to rouse him. It was dangerous to keep going.

Batman swallowed, taking his eyes off of Joker. Truthfully he wasn’t even sure if he’d be ok to drive himself home.

He hadn’t realised how exhausted he was until he’d let himself notice it. Most likely that was why he’d gotten so worried about Joker’s whereabouts.

He sighed and set in a course home. He’d let the auto take him home.

He leaned back in his seat as the car started up and began to take them home. He had to keep his eyes open until they got home, just in case something happened that the auto couldn’t handle.

He looked over at Joker, just now noticing that he had one of his toys hooked under his arm. He couldn’t help smiling, wondering if Joker had been hoping to just get a quick 10 minutes sleep without Batman noticing.

His stomach twisted slightly: it wasn’t fair for him to push Joker like this.

Getting so little sleep wouldn’t be good for his mental health. He was doing so well, Batman didn’t want to put that at risk, but unknowingly he had.

What if Joker was suffering but simply hadn’t told him? He was the kind of person to hide problems to try and appear strong, act like nothing could touch him.

Batman let out a deep sigh, feeling himself deflate. He felt as if he’d failed him.

He reached over to put his hand on Joker’s knee, “I shouldn’t have pushed you,” he said quietly, rubbing Joker’s leg as if he were trying to calm him.

Batman was going to get him home, put him to bed, and let him sleep for as long as his body would let him, he would do the same. They’d hit a dead end with their current case until the police gave him access to the suspect. They had a little while to relax.

The car pulled into the batcave and Batman couldn’t help wondering if at some point he’d fallen asleep on the way and not noticed, the drive hadn’t seemed as long as it should have.

He let out a soft breath and pulled himself from the car, he pulled off his cowl and placed it back in the car, he couldn’t be bothered to put it in it’s proper place right now, he had more important things on his mind, like getting Joker to bed.

He walked round to open the door on Joker’s side and scoop the sleeping man into his arms, trying to be gentle as not to wake him.

Joker stirred slightly at the transition, looping his arms round Bruce’s neck instinctively. Bruce smiled at the action, pulling him closer to his chest. He slowly moved to walk upstairs towards John’s bedroom.

He wasn’t sure once to do once he got there, should he undress him and try to take off his makeup, or would that wake him? The last thing he wanted to do was wake him, in case he found it hard to get back to sleep.

He thought it best to try it, John would bite his head off if he woke up and found his new green sheets covered with greasepaint.

Bruce carefully removed Joker’s jacket and trousers and lay him down on his bed, looking down at Joker for a moment before moving to the bedside table, looking through the top draw for facewipes.

He took off his gauntlets and gloves, picking up the pack of facewipes and pulling out a handful before turning back to Joker.

Carefully he put one of the wipes to his face, beginning to scrape off the black and white face-paint. He couldn’t think why he felt the need to put it on so thick, Bruce had provided him with a mask but he refused to wear it unless he was in the police station or somewhere similar.

Bruce smiled as he moved on to his second facewipe.

There was something nice about this, it was calming. Looking after him, cleaning him up, the way his skin moved as Bruce cleaned it, he could feel John’s soft breath on him. He wondered if Alfred had felt this kind of closeness with him when he fixed him up.

Bruce took extra care in being gentle as he cleaned him, pausing every time John so much as twitched.

After several moments and several facewipes Bruce straightened himself up, looking down at John’s face, checking it for remnants of makeup. He let out a soft breath and smiled.

He pulled one of John’s blankets over him, looking down at him again for a moment before taking himself to bed.


	21. Chapter 21

“Happy birthday,” Bruce said, holding out a box covered in plumb coloured paper.

John looked up from the waffles on his lap, his birthday breakfast. His dark eyes widened at the sight of the box, “What is this?” he almost gasped.

“It’s your birthday, isn’t it? What do you think it is?” Bruce smirked.

John chuckled, “I thought I wasn’t getting presents till later? At my fancy snooty-ass dinner party?”

Bruce shrugged, “What’s one present between friends?”

John nodded and took the box, putting his ear to it and shaking it gently. He let out a soft hum, “I think it’s a plush…”

“Open it and see,” Bruce grinned. He felt a swell of excitement in his chest.

John tore off the paper and looked at the plain cardboard box. “This is so exciting,” he squeaked as he pulled it open.

His eyes widened at the sight of the contents, he looked up at Bruce wide eyed and open mouthed. “Holy shit,” he gasped, he reached in to the box and pulled out two plush toys.

“It’s a… me. A tiny me and a tiny you!” he squealed, holding in his hands a small plush toy Joker and Batman.

Bruce smiled and gave a hard nod, “I had them specially made by one of those people you like online.”

John nodded in disbelief, his mouth still lulling open, “I though I recognised the style.” He let out a soft huff, “Bruce, I…” his smile softened as he looked at Bruce, “These are amazing. I love them. I love _you_ ,” he threw himself forward and pulled Bruce into a clumsy and excited kiss.

“This is the best present I’ve ever gotten,” he shouted as their kiss broke. He giggled, looking back at the toys in his hands, “Oh they look so cute! I want to sew their hands together…” he looked back up at Bruce, “Wouldn’t that be cute? Us two holding hands forever.”

Bruce nodded, “That would be cute.” He let out a huffed chuckle, “I actually ordered those almost 3 months ago and they arrived two days ago, I was so worried they’d be late.”

John smirked, “That makes me feel special, you worrying about me.”

Bruce shrugged, “I worry about you all the time, you know that,” he let out a soft chuckle. “I’m glad you like the plushes.”

“I really do,” John said, his voice sincere, “I love them so much I could _cry_ , Bruce.”

“You can cry if you want to, John,” Bruce said with a smile, “No one will judge you.”

John shook his head rapidly tears and mascara beginning to track down his face, “No, no, I’m ok, not gunna cry on my birthday,” he let out a weak laugh and lifted one of the plushes to his face to cover it.

Bruce smiled weakly, a warm flood of happiness filling him, he reached out to rub John’s arm.

“I’m not crying,” John whimpered, “I’ve just got joy in my eyes,” he let out a chuckle.

After a moment he lower the toy, looking at Bruce with watery eyes, a beautiful soft smile on his face.

“I’m so happy,” he breathed. He swallowed hard to stop his voice cracking. “This is so…” he shook his head.

“I put a lot of thought into it,” Bruce rubbed John’s arm again, leaning in to give him a soft kiss.

At the action John let out a small whimper, he moved forward again to hug Bruce, nuzzling into his neck, hugging him tight.

Bruce embraced him silently for a moment, he could feel him shaking slightly in his arms. “Are you ok?” he asked quietly, nuzzling a kiss into John’s hair.

John nodded against him, “Yeah,” he croaked out, “I’m good, I’m really good.” He let out a feeble chuckle.

“This isn’t the first birthday present I’ve gotten you, you didn’t react like this last time.”

John scoffed, “We were at a party last time, I was way too nervous to act like this.”

Bruce let out a soft hum, resting his head against John’s. The last year Bruce had gone all out, John had been overwhelmed of course, he’d been too focused on everything being perfect that he hadn’t fully considered John’s feelings or reaction.

It had been John’s first birthday out of Arkham, Bruce had gotten overexcited, and he regretted it.

This year Bruce had planned for things to be a little more casual. They were barely having a party this year. A nice dinner with a few other people.

“I’m sorry about last year,” Bruce said quietly, “I promise this one’ll be better.”

“It’s already better,” John said, pulling away and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, smearing his eye makeup across his face, “This is the best gift I’ve _ever_ gotten. _And_ I have friends coming over later.”

Bruce gave a nod, he’d almost forgotten about John’s friends. One of his old ‘henchmen’ had gotten out on probation and was coming over, on top of that it just so happened that one of John’s online friends happened to live about half an hour outside of Gotham, they were coming in too.

“What time are they coming over?” Bruce asked.

“Willy should be here at about 3, Zan said they should be here at about 4, it depends on the traffic.”

“I hope the traffic’s not bad, I don’t know how long I can be alone with Willy.”

John smirked, “Oh yeah,” he let out a low pitched chuckle, “Didn’t you punch him or something..?”

“You know very well I did,” Bruce said, raising an eyebrow.

John hummed softly, nodding slowly in thought, “I _think_ I remember that,” his teeth grip slightly, his expression tensing, freezing his smile in place. “Yeah, I remember…” he let out a stifled chuckle, “It was the first time I’d seen you go all out on someone like that.”

“You’ve seen me beat up plenty of people since then.”

John nodded, “Well, yeah.” His smile widened, “But that first time, that rush I got,” he let out a soft exhale, tipping his head back a little, “Boy, that was _good_.” He relaxed and put his eyes back on Bruce, “I think that was when I first really realised I loved you.”

Bruce frowned, “Really? That early on?”

John gave another softer nod, “Yeah. I mean I really liked you before that, but,” he shrugged, “I dunno, pressed all the right buttons I guess.”

Bruce shifted on his feet, John’s tone stirring something in him. “I’m not punching him again,” he stated.

John paused and pouted, “What? Not even if he steals all your fancy silver?”

“No,” Bruce said firmly.

“But it’s my birthday!” John said, letting out a laugh.

“I said no, you’ll have to deal with having a nice quiet meal with your friends.”

John rolled his eyes and blew a raspberry, “Fine,” he said pointedly. His face relaxed into a soft smile, his eyes softening as he looked up and Bruce, “I’m sure it’ll be lovely.” He looked down at his plush toys, “I’m going to find somewhere for these boys to live.”

“You might want to fix your makeup too, you don’t want people to know I’ve made you cry today.”

John chuckled lightly, “Oh, yeah, what would everything think?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've uploaded a chapter a day for three weeks now, wow!  
> If anyone has any ideas for chapters throw them my way because I'm starting to run low. Either leave a comment saying what you want to see or message me on tumblr- im Mystrothedefender there too.  
> If you have anything you want to see which doesn't aline with this fic you can always talk to me on tumblr and I'll see what I can do for you :3


	22. Chapter 22

Bruce walked through the rooms of the mansion, looking for John, he’d been gone for over an hour, he’d said he’d had to go and get something and then not come back.

“John?” Bruce called loudly again, walking down one of the halls, towards the guest bedrooms. He cleared his throat, he hoped he found John before he lost his voice.

As he passed what had once been a nursery he glanced inside, spotting John hunched on a chair over a box of some sort.

“There you are,” Bruce said with a soft breath of relief. He took a few steps into the room, looking down at the box in John’s hands.

“What is that?” he asked, a tentative smile on his face.

John looked up, jolting a little as if he hadn’t noticed Bruce was there. He smiled weakly, “Oh, uh,” he held out his hand. He was holding a small stack of photos, “I found these…” he let out a chuckle, “Got a whole timeline of your life here.”

Bruce moved round to look at the pictures, letting out a small amused hum. “I’d forgotten about all these,” he said softly.

He leaned forward to take a photo from the box.

One of him, aged around 16, his hair grown out a little, dressed in all black and generally not looking very happy.

John chuckled, looking up at him, “You went through an emo phase?” he asked, obviously he knew which picture Bruce had picked up.

Bruce shrugged, “I don’t think so, I’m pretty much the same now, I just have shorter hair.”

“Oh really?” John smirked knowingly, “And what’s this?”

He held out a photo for Bruce to see. It took Bruce a moment to recognise the beachside scene.

It was him but he was barely recognisable, wearing bright pink sunglasses and white swimming trunks, his skin tanned dark with blond streaks in his hair.

He felt a deep blush come over his face, “Now _this_ was a phase. This was uh,” he sat down next to John, an embarrassed smile on his face, he felt his chest fill with nostalgia, “This was spring break in college, Harvey and I went to Greece for a few weeks.” His smile faded, “He actually… broke up with me just before we went home.”

John scoffed, his eyes wide, “That must have been an awkward flight home.”

Bruce nodded, “Tell me about it…”

John smiled, “This is a hilarious picture of you though… I kinda want to put it up online. Bruce Wayne: burned toast edition.”

Bruce huffed softly, “Please don’t.”

John hummed and shifted on his feet, “…Ok,” he finally said, “But I do get to post _one_ picture of younger you.”

Bruce gave a reluctant nod, “Ok…” he leant forward and looked through the piles of photos, pulling one out of him in his early teens. A fond memory of his, Alfred had taken him to a carnival and he’d eaten so much candyfloss that he’d almost been sick. “This one.”

John gasped, “Oh my god!” he squeaked, “You look so cute!” he chuckled, “That cotton candy is bigger than your head.”

He snatched the picture from Bruce’s hands, “I’m keeping this,” he stated. He looked down at it and giggled cutely, “Look at your squishy baby face!” he looked back up at him, studying him for a moment, “You still have the same eyes, though.”

“Eyes generally don’t change very much,” Bruce mused.

“No,” John agreed, “But I mean…” he let out a soft huff, “I don’t know how to explain it. You look like… as if you’ve lived too much.”

“You mean I’ve got ‘old eyes’,” Bruce corrected him, “I’ve been told that a few times.” He looked John up and down, “You know you have the same thing, you’ve got old eyes.”

John raised his hand absently, rubbing the corner of his eyes, where crows feet were starting to appear, “Oh really..?” He smiled weakly, “I wonder what I’ve lived through to give me old eyes.”

He looked down at the box of photos, his smile fading completely, “What’s it like, Bruce, to remember your childhood?”

Bruce frowned, “Well…” he chewed his lip for a moment, trying to think of how to explain it. “It’s the same as remembering anything else, I suppose.”

“Do you remember all of it?” John asked, an almost sad tone to his voice.

Bruce shrugged, “Not all of it, but a lot. Some people can only remember fragments or they remember based on the stimuli around them. I’m lucky I guess.”

“Or you’re very unlucky,” John smirked. He shook his head, “I wish I could remember. Just one thing. I wish I had photos to remind me like you do.”

“You might be better off as you are, John. Not everyone had a good childhood. Not remembering could be a blessing.”

John nodded, pouting a little, “That’s true. I do have a few scars I’m probably better off not knowing where they came from,” he let out a soft chuckle. “In which case I’m sorry you have to remember yours.”

Bruce let out a soft huff, looking down at the box of photographs. “There are some memories I’d like to forget.”

“Like your burned toast phase?” John said, letting out another chuckle.

Bruce smiled and nodded, “Especially the burned toast phase, yes.” He reached out to rub John’s arm, “We’re making new and _better_ memories now.”

John nodded, smiling again, “That’s true, I guess I don’t have to repress what I can’t remember,” he chuckled, “I bet that every time you see pink sunglasses you wanna vomit,” he gasped, “Is that why you only wear black now?”

Bruce rolled his eyes, “I don’t only wear black…”

“What do you own that’s not black?” John pointed to Bruce’s shirt, then his pants and socks, “Black, black, black.” He held up his hands in a dramatic shrug, “You’ve proved me right without even trying.”

Bruce chuckled softly, “Ok, maybe most of my things are black, but I do happen to own several white shirts.”

“White is _not_ a colour, Brucie, don’t you ever even imply that again.” John chuckled and shook his head.

Bruce smiled and let out a soft huff, “Ok, ok.”

“Let me pick you out an outfit,” John suggested, smiling widely.

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a breath, “John…”

“Please?!” John whined, clasping his hands together.

Bruce chuckled softly, “Ok, ok. I can’t say no to you. One thing. You can pick out one thing.”

“And you have to wear it in public,” John added.

“What?”

John picked up the picture of Bruce at the beach, playing with it in his hand. “You heard me.”

“You’re blackmailing me?”

Jon chuckled, “What’s a little blackmail between friends?”

“I’ll wear it in public under the condition that you never tell anyone about that picture.”

John gave a hard nod, “It’s a deal.” He held out his hand for Bruce to shake, “It was nice to do business with you.”

Bruce smiled and took John’s hand, “I look forward to doing business with you again.”


	23. Chapter 23

Batman slumped against the wall, his head spinning and pounding, he couldn’t take another blow to the head.

His assailant sent another kick into his stomach. Batman raised his arm to stop him but he was too slow, a shock of pain shot through him, he could barely tell what was happening. He knew only 2 men were attacking him but it felt like there were more.

He jolted at a loud shout of his name a few feet away, he looked over to see Joker, a ‘jokerang’ in his hand.

The two attackers ran at him, but quickly dropped to the floor.

Joker hooted and hollered laughing, looking down at them as he walked towards Batman. “You must have tired them out for me, eh?!”

Batman slid down the wall, sitting on the floor, breathing hard. “Yeah, I… I guess so.”

Joker’s smile dropped as he watched Batman, “Holy shit, Batman.” He dropped to his knees next to Batman, looking him over, shock covering his face. “What… What happened to you?!”

Batman forcefully widened his eyes, hoping it might stop the spinning. “They hit me on the head with something,” he groaned softly, “I feel like I’ve been hit by a car.”

Joker’s eyes focused on something behind them, “Or a wheelbarrow,” he chuckled and shook his head, “These guys got lucky.”

He let out a soft huff and looked down at Batman again, “So you’ve got a _big_ bump to the head, you’ve got…” he frowned, looking at the state of his arms, “Did these bitches try to _stab_ you? Don’t they know you wear armour?” he let out a small angry growl, “Fucking morons…”

“Stop swearing,” Batman said weakly, “And stop critiquing the criminals.”

Joker nodded, “You’re right, you’re right, It-it must be the adrenaline.” He let out a slow breath, “We need to get you home.”

Batman groaned, he wanted to resist and say he was ok, try to carry on with their night. They were so busy. But he knew there was no way he could continue with injuries this bad.

“No objections?” Joker frowned, “Wow you must be hurt…” He stood in front of Batman, hooking his arms under Batman’s shoulders, “Let’s get you up, honey.”

Batman groaned softly through pain, he struggled to find his feet. Eventually he was up, leaning against the wall. The world was still spinning.

“Let me look at you,” Joker said softly, he pulled out his phone and turned the torch on, shining it in Batman’s face. He pulled at his eyes to forced them open, letting out a small hiss and shaking his head. “Yeah… We need to get you home.”

Batman let out a small grunt of agreement, he held out his arm for Joker to take, leaning against him as they began their walk to the car.

“You’ll be fine,” Joker said, his tone soft and soothing. “We’ll get you home and you can have some rest. Do you have any other injuries or is it just your head?”

Batman shook his head slowly, “I don’t think so, maybe a few bruises.”

Joker let out a soft hum, “Sure. We’ll see.”

“I haven’t been beaten up this badly in a while.”

Joker let out a tittered laugh, “I know, they really got you. And now I get to play doctor all night,” he smirked, “It’s gunna be nice.”

Batman took some of his weight off Joker, the world had begun to stop spinning. Although he was still in pain it wasn’t unbearable.

“I don’t know how I let them sneak up on me like that,” he grumbled.

Joker scoffed, “Things happen, Bats. You’re only human, humans slip up sometimes.” He glanced at him, “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

Batman let out a soft breath at Joker’s wording. “It makes extra work, now we’ve lost a night, we have to retrace our suspects steps, and you have to look after me.”

Joker chuckled softly, “It’s ok Batsy, I’m sure I can deal with it. In case you haven’t noticed I’m very good at my job, even better than you perhaps.”

Batman scoffed, “Sure.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Joker chuckled softly, “I’m better at figuring things out that you, you can’t deny how smart I am.”

“You are very smart,” Batman stated.

Joker nodded, “Thankyou for the compliment.” He chuckled, “And here we are, back at the car.”

“Thankyou,” Batman said softly, he pulled away from Joker fully and slowly began to climb into the car.

“Ah ah,” Joker said with a playful waggle of his finger, “You get in the passenger side, you are not fit to drive.”

Batman growled softly, “I’m fine to drive, the car does most of the work.”

Joker shook his head, “Nope, nope. Doctors orders. Come on,” he opened the door to the passenger side and patted the seat.

Batman let out a deep sigh, moving around the car and getting in.

“Good boy,” Joker cooed. He let out a chuckle and plopped down into the driver’s seat. He chewed his lip and hummed quietly as he turned the car on, he looked over at Batman, reaching over to rub his knee in that calming way Batman usually did to him. “Put your belt on,” he said softly, a lovely calm tone to his voice.

Batman nodded and put on his belt. “I’ll try not to fall asleep.”

Joker shook his head, “Just until we get home then we’ll take off your helmet and get a look at the damage. It’s actually a misconception that you need to stay awake, if you’re gunna go into a coma, you’ll go into a coma, there’s no stopping it.” He looked over at Batman, rubbing his knee again, “I’m sure you’ll be fine though…”

Batman chuckled weakly, “You need to improve your bedside manner.”

“You need to get thicker skin,” Joker said with a chuckle.

Batman leant back in his chair, he tried not to focus on the pain in his gut, he was sure there was going to be bruising there.

Joker let out a small ‘aw’ as he watched him settle. “Here,” he leant over to open the glove compartment, pulling out a toy lizard, he handed it to Batman, “Play with him, he’ll help cam you down.”

“Him?” Batman said, looking down at the toy, “It’s pink…”

Joker shrugged, “What, boys can’t be pink?”

Batman nodded slowly, he looked down at the toy again, “Ok, so what’s his name.”

“Joanna,” Joker stated.

“That’s a girls name, Joker,” Batman smiled.

“Excuse you?” Joker chuckled, “Keep your gender rolls, cisnormativity, and heteronormativity _away_ from my toys.”

Batman smiled, holding back a chuckle, “Ok, I understand.”

“You need to work on that,” Joker said with a hard nod.

“I will. Where do you learn about all that stuff?”

Joker chuckled, “Online, they’re all about it… They love all my makeup stuff.”

“Good, I’m glad you’ve got some support.”

Joker smiled, “You like my makeup stuff too right?”

“I do,” Batman answered, “You always look very handsome.” He looked down at the pink salamander toy, turning him in his hands and flicking his tongue with his thumb. “This guy’s pretty cute too.”

“Yep,” Joker smiled, “My buddy Zan sent me him.”

Batman smiled, “That’s nice of them, we should have them over again.”

Joker’s smile widened, “That would be great! I’ll message them when we get home.”

 “Maybe wait a few days, till I’m feeling better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was based on a suggestion! If anyone has any ideas for what you think should happen next let me know :D


	24. Chapter 24

The first thing that caught Bruce’s eye as he walked through the door to Arkham Asylum was John, sitting on one of the metal chairs in the entrance hall. This wasn’t unusual, however the look on his face was. His eyes were red and puffy, tear tracks down his face. It didn’t look as if he’d even tried to clean himself up. Usually if John became upset during a session Dr Leland would wait with him, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“John,” Bruce said softly, his voice filled with worry.

John looked up at him blankly. “Bruce,” he said, his voice cracking a little.

“Are you ok?” Bruce asked.

John let out a soft breath, he looked away and got to his feet. “I want to go home,” he said quietly.

Something was definitely wrong. Bruce wasn’t sure if he should ask again or not.

If John wanted him to know then he’d tell him.

Bruce followed him out of Arkham silently. John seemed to be curling in on himself, shaking slightly. Was he still crying?

“John..?” Bruce said quietly, reaching out to take John’s arm. “Are you ok?”

John shook his head, sniffling softly. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he whimpered.

Bruce frowned, a weight in his stomach. He let out a soft breath, “Ok, it’s ok, John. Whatever it is I support you. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

John nodded, “Thanks…” he turned to face Bruce, his eyes on his feet. “Could I have a hug?”

Bruce felt a tug in his gut at the request, his voice sounded so heavy. Whatever it was that was upsetting him… he’d not seen him upset like this many times before.

He pulled John into a gentle hug. John hugged back tight, grabbing at his clothes and letting out a whine-like sob.

“It’s ok,” Bruce cooed, rubbing his back.

He must have had a breakthrough of some kind, maybe he’d remembered something, or they’d discussed what had happened to him in the past, or talked about all the terrible things he’d done back when he didn’t know any better.

Eventually John began to calm down, his shaking stopped and his breathing returned to normal.

“We’ll go home,” Bruce said lightly, “You can have a bath and a nap, I’ll cook us something nice.”

John smiled against him, letting out a small laugh. “You’re too nice to me,” he managed to croak out, “I’m just…” he sniffled, “I’m over-reacting.”

Bruce shook his head, “There’s no such thing, John, if something upsets you then it upsets you.”

“It’s not even…” John shook his head, pulling away. “Let’s just go home, ok?” He shook his head again, “God, I feel like such a little bitch,” he wheezed out a weak chuckle.

“Perhaps if I knew what’s upset you I could help?” Bruce offered.

John scoffed and shook his head. “I’ll… Ok, I’ll tell you in the car.”

Bruce nodded, he wasn’t sure what was so embarrassing or important that he wouldn’t discuss it in public.

He took John’s hand and walked with him to the car, squeezing his hand softly, rubbing his thumb over John’s knuckles in an attempt to calm him.

As soon as he sat down John pulled open the glove compartment, taking out the plush toy that sat there and hugging it to his chest, nuzzling his face into it.

Bruce sat, letting John settle for a moment before he started the car.

He waited for John to tell him, he didn’t want to push him or startle him while he was this distressed.

John straightened himself up slightly, a blank and sad look on his face. After a few minutes he glanced over at Bruce.

“Joan is pregnant,” he said quietly.

Bruce’s eyes widened, “That’s great,” he smiled and let out a small chuckle, “John, that’s great news… Why are you upset about that?”

John let out another sniffle, shaking his head and closing his eyes. “I know it’s good news I…” he stamped his foot, crossing his arms tight across his chest, “She’s got _two years_ maternity leave,” his voice cracked as he spoke, tears dripping down his face again.

The weak smile on Bruce face dropped instantly. “Oh,” he said flatly. He reached out to put his hand on John’s knee. “John, I’m sorry.”

John let out a weak whimper, sniffing loudly.

“Do you know who’s replacing her?”

John shook his head, curling in on himself a little more, “No.” He let out a small growl, “I’m just… I’m going to go in one week and _someone else_ will be there!” He shook his head, his sadness turning to anger, “Can you believe it? She-she just gets to up and leave, drop me on someone else like I’m a bag of… _potatoes_.”

Bruce let out a small huff, “I’m sorry, John,” he said sincerely, “I’m sure whoever it is will be just as nice as Joan. They’re still there to help you.”

John shook his head, “Me and Joan have a history, she _knows_ me, she-she’s like my _mother_ for-for Christ’s sake.”

Bruce felt his stomach churn at John’s wording, the implication of it. Joan was like a mother to John in the same way that Alfred was like a father to him, going so long without seeing Alfred had been painful for him, he didn’t want John going through that. “You’ll still get to see her, John,” he said softly.

John scoffed, “ _Sure_. She’ll have a band new baby, she won’t want to spend time with some crazy guy.”

“I’m sure she’ll still want to see you, John. You’ll see her at parties at the least.”

John rolled his eyes, “Going from once a week to once every two months maybe… it’s…” he shook his head. “I want to go home, Bruce.”

Bruce nodded, “Ok.” He let out a soft breath, “Maybe we should invite her over? Or go out with her somewhere sometimes.”

John let out a huff, “That seems a little unprofessional.”

“I’m sure she’d agree to it, John. She wants you to be happy and comfortable as much as anyone does. And she really does like you as a friend too. If she didn’t she wouldn’t have asked to come to your birthday party.”

John nodded, glancing out the window. “I suppose you’re right.” He put his hand to his forehead, “This was not how I was expecting today to go.”

“That happens sometimes,” Bruce said softly, “The rest of the day will be better, I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might not be able to upload tomorrow D':


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating now because I don't think I'll get a chance to at any other point today.

Batman hopped out of the batmobile, darting round to help Joker out.

Joker lifted himself slowly, wincing at every movement of his injured leg.

“It’s ok,” he stated, “It’s not that bad.”

“You’re bleeding, Joker,” Batman said softly, not sure if he should scoop Joker up to take him to the medical centre or not.

“Only a little,” Joker whined. He looked down at his leg and chuckled weakly, “Oh, no, that is quite a lot of blood,” he shook his head, “Blood and lavender, I don’t think I can make that work.”

Batman gave a soft nod, “I don’t think so.” He took Joker into his arms and lifted him, carrying him to the medical area, gently lowering him down.

“Can you… _try_ not to laugh while we deal with this, it’s very off-putting,” Batman asked.

Joker covered his mouth to stifle himself, shaking a little, although Batman couldn’t tell if it were from laughter or shock.

“Thankyou,” Batman huffed, he looked down at Joker’s leg. “I need to take these off,” he said in reference to the Joker’s suit-like trousers.

Joker let out a soft giggle through his fingers and nodded to ok the action, another giggle leaving him as Batman pulled off the ruins of his pants.

Batman let out a soft breath, throwing the garments aside, he let out a huff as he looked at the small gash in Joker’s leg. The bleeding wasn’t too severe and the cut wasn’t too deep. A cleaning and a few stitches and he’d be right as rain.

“Look at that,” Joker said with a shake of his head, “Practically missed me.”

Batman rolled his eyes, handing Joker some face wipes, “You know this wouldn’t have happened if you wore the armour that I had made for you.”

Joker scoffed, “I told you no, it makes me look fat, and it restricts my movement too much, I like billowy fabrics.”

Batman shook his head, he turned away to pick out his supplies from the cabinets, getting a needle and thread and some solution to clean the wound. “Just stay still and quiet please, John,” he said quietly. Before turning back to him he took off his cowl, along with his gauntlets and the gloves underneath.

“I can’t make any promises about staying quiet, you know I get talkative when I’m in pain.”

Bruce nodded, “I know, but try.” He knelt down in front of John, manoeuvring his leg to get a good look under the light. “This is going to sting,” he stated.

John nodded in understanding, “I know. Bring it on.” He dug his nails into the rubbery top of the medical table, gritting his teeth in anticipation.

Bruce let out a soft breath, chewing his lip as he poured the liquid onto John’s thigh. He stomach turned as John hissed in pain, his face contorting, odd laugh-like noises escaping his lips.

“Oh, that hurts,” John whispered to himself, repeating it to himself through gritted teeth. After a moment he let out a small hoot, “That stuff sure does make you feel alive.”

Bruce let out a small grunt, getting the needle and thread ready. “Are you ok? Are you ready for this.”

“Yeah, bitch!” John yelled loudly, the shout reverberating around the cave, he let out a loud laugh.

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment and let out a huff, “John, what did I say about the laughing?”

John let out a soft ‘oop’ noise, slapping his hand to his mouth, he gave Bruce a wink and turned his leg a little to give him easier access.

“Thankyou,” Bruce said quietly, furrowing his brow as he focused on stitching John up. John watched him intently, letting out tiny giggles from behind his hand. The way he laughed when he was upset or in pain always sent shivers down Bruce’s spine. He hadn’t understood it at first, he remembered shouting at him about it in the past. Of course he understood now that it was a nervous response, but that didn’t mean he was any more comfortable with it.

“You seemed a little reckless tonight,” Bruce observed, “If you’d been paying full attention then he wouldn’t have been able to touch you.” He looked up at John, “You’re still upset?”

John’s stifled laughter suddenly stopped, he lowered his hand slowly, “Now why would you bring that up, I was having a perfectly lovely day.”

“You know I could escort you in tomorrow if you’re worried.”

John shook his head, “I don’t need a baby sitter, I can handle the new guy, don’t worry about me.”

“If you’re worried then I’m worried,” Bruce said with a small shake of his head, “Just try not to scare the guy.”

John scoffed, “If he can’t handle me then he doesn’t deserve to get to treat me.”

Bruce chuckled weakly and nodded, “I suppose, but I don’t want him complaining about you.” He picked up a cotton pad and began to wipe up the blood and solution around John’s stitched up wound.

“I don’t care if he does,” John crossed his arms, “I don’t _care_ about his opinion.”

Bruce looked back up at John, “You care about Joan’s opinion, what do you think she’ll say if she finds out you’ve been misbehaving without her?”

John pouted, “She’ll probably feel _guilty_ about leaving me, and upset that I’m not mature enough to put up with it,” he let out a soft breath, “She’ll see it as a set back…” He frowned, “You don’t think she’d cancel?”

Bruce shook his head, taking a bandage from the table and beginning to wrap John’s leg. “No, she’s not that sort of person, she said she’d go out with you and she’ll do it no matter what. But she’ll probably talk to you about it.”

John rolled his eyes and grunted in annoyance, “ _Fine_ , I guess I’ll be good then. I don’t want _that_ awkward conversation,” he let out a soft chuckle. “I’ll do my best to be nice to the new guy.”

“Thankyou,” Bruce said as he stood up, “You’re all fixed up, good as new,” he said with a smile.

“Thankyou,” John replied with a soft nod. He outstretched his legs to wrap them around Bruce, pulling him down to give him a kiss.

Bruce kissed back, “What are you doing?”

“I’m thanking you,” John said, letting out a small chuckle before kissing Bruce again.

Bruce huffed, “No you’re not, you want me to stop me talking about your new therapist. You’re very transparent, John…” he pulled away, “I will stop talking about it, but only because you need to rest that wound on your leg. I’m taking you to bed.”


	26. Chapter 26

Bruce took a bite of his breakfast, high protein seeded bread with peanut butter. One of his favourites.

He looked up at the sound of John entering the kitchen, grunting in hello through his mouthful of food.

“Has the mail come yet?” John asked instantly, no hello or pretence.

“Uh,” Bruce started, swallowing his food and clearing his throat, he looked at the clock on the wall, 11:30, “It should have. Why?”

John shook his head, letting out a strained chuckle. He held up his phone to read from it, “’Oh my god, Johnny, the gazette has pictures of us, they think we’re dating, lol’,” he grinned up at Bruce, “What I woke up to from Zan.”

Bruce frowned in disbelief, “Why would they think that?”

John shrugged, “We went to the movies together last week, and obviously I’m not _allowed_ to have friends.”

Bruce scoffed, “These people will try to make a story out of anything.”

“I want to read it,” John smiled.

Bruce nodded, “Check the door, I’m sure it’s there.”

John nodded and chuckled, darting out of the room.

Bruce huffed softly, the rumours this would cause would be nothing but bad. John liked the attention, Bruce was surprised he hadn’t grown tired of it yet, the constant whisperings and misinformation, they hadn’t gotten to him yet.

Bruce finished his toast and waited for John to return with the paper.

He heard laughter from the hall, John entered a moment later.

“Look at this,” he held out the paper, showing Bruce a picture of him hugging a short blue haired person.

“Well don’t you look handsome,” Bruce smiled.

John nodded, “I do, I really do. But look,” he flicked the picture, “A hug, that’s all they’re going on.”

He chuckled and sat on the stool next to Bruce’s, rubbing his legs against Bruce’s intentionally. He let out a small huff and began to read. As he did his smile drooped a little.

“What’s wrong?” Bruce asked, noticing John’s laughter peter out.

John shook his head, “Oh it’s just,” he shook his head, “They’ve misgendered them, and deadnamed them a lot,” he scoffed, “Don’t these people do any research?” he pouted and shook his head, “I don’t want to know their deadname…”

“Are they out?” Bruce asked, “If they’re not out at work or to their family they may have asked to be deadnamed.”

John’s mouth opened a little as he gave a soft nod, “Oh yeah… I didn’t think about that.” He gurned and shook his head hard, “Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

Bruce smiled, reading the article over John’s shoulder, “The reporter calls you dashing.”

John nodded, straightening up in his chair, “Yes they do, and they call you… ‘ _unsuspecting’_.” He let out a chuckle, “Well if you didn’t know about my _affair_ with Zan then you do now.”

Bruce shook his head, “After all the time we’ve spent together, John, I never thought it would end like this.”

John let out another chuckle, leaning over to kiss Bruce on the cheek. “I’d never cheat on you really, you’re my one and only, my soulmate, my other half.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, “Ok, ok.” His smile dropped a little, “I hope Zan is ok with being in the spotlight like this, what if people approach them?”

John shrugged, “I think they expect it a little, you can’t hang out with Gotham’s nearest and dearest and not be noticed, why do you think their hair looks so good in the picture! They even colour coordinated their outfit with mine.”

“You both look very handsome,” Bruce smiled.

“God, yes,” John said with a soft nod of his head, “I’m so photogenic, I don’t know how I’m not a model.”

Bruce chuckled softly, “I’m sure you could be one if you wanted. You’d have to wear what they told you to though. Imagine, they tell you to wear brown suits, _beige_ , even.”

“Ew, gross?” John growled, “I’m 100% sure that if beige touched me I would vomit.”

“But I’m sure that we could find somewhere that would want your picture on their cover, wearing whatever you wanted.”

John nodded, his eyes closing gently, “That would be amazing. I’d do my makeup, wear a custom-made suit, style my own hair, the whole shebang.”

Bruce nodded in agreement, “I’m sure Gotham would love that.”

John grinned, “They get to see what they’re missing, and what you get to spend every day with, ‘you lucky boy’ they’ll think, getting to sleep next to _that_.” He chuckled softly, reaching out a hand to give Bruce a soft shove.

“I can speak to some people, if you really want,” Bruce said, a smile on his face.

It would be a good opportunity, he thought, it would give John some media attention other than rumours, give him a little more control over his public image. It might help his recovery too, improve his self-esteem.

John nodded, “I _would_ like that. They’re always talking about how I dress and my makeup in the papers, it’d be nice to really show them what I’ve got.”

“That would be nice,” Bruce confirmed, “Maybe we could ask them to do a profile on you, you could talk about your plushes and your calligraphy too.”

John gasped, “That would be so great!” he chuckled, “I could use is as a way to advertise my friends too. Imagine, everyone in Gotham will want their plushes and artwork, it would be so good for them!”

Bruce smiled weakly, it was nice to see John thinking about other people, using his position to help them. He felt a swell of pride in his chest. “That would be really good,” he said with a nod, “I’m sure they’d thank you for the exposure.”

John chuckled excitedly. “’John Doe endorses local small businesses’. When can you fix that up?”

Bruce shrugged, “I don’t know, if I get on the phone today I could have it set up in a few days.”

John nodded, “Ok, ok,” he chuckled again and pulled out his phone, “Let me contact a few people, I don’t want to advertise anyone that doesn’t want the attention.”

Bruce smiled and gave a nod, “That’s a very good idea, I’m sure they’ll all jump at the chance though.”

John waggled his finger at Bruce, “We should never assume. Some of them might not like the pressure of it.”

“That’s… true. People might start to recognise them. Not everyone wants to be in a spotlight, you’re quite right John.”

“I know I am,” John said smugly, “Because I’m smarter than you,” he grinned.

Bruce chuckled, “Keep telling yourself that.”


	27. -nsfw chapter-

John stared at Bruce from his seat on the sofa, across from him, Bruce could feel his eyes boring into him.

Bruce turned his head, looking John up and down, his face was made up beautifully and he was wearing a new suit, and Bruce knew the staring was really him silently fishing for compliments.

He leaned forward to take a cookie from the coffee table, silently eating it, letting John’s eyes continue to burrow into him. He wanted to see how long John would wait before saying something.

John let out a small huff and extended his leg out to brush their feet together, he stretched his toes and rubbed them over the top of Bruce’s foot.

Bruce looked down at his foot, his gaze moving up his leg until they met John’s eyes. He smiled weakly and took another bite of his cookie.

John’s mouth curled into a sly smile, as if he knew exactly what Bruce was doing. He shifted on his seat and trailed his foot further up Bruce’s leg, up past his knee and along the inside of his thigh.

Bruce’ eyes darted back to John’s foot.

His foot continued to Bruce’s crotch, brushing softly against him.

“What are you doing?” Bruce growled, an eyebrow raising.

John’s smile split into a grin, he let out a chuckle, “That got you.”

Bruce smiled, a soft blush in his face, “Ok, that got me. But it doesn’t answer my question.”

John chuckled softly, his foot kneading into Bruce’s groin, “I figured at least _one_ part of you might pay attention to me.”

Bruce let out a breath, “You have my full attention.”

“Yeah, looks like it,” John said, another chuckle leaving him. He continued moving his foot over Bruce’s crotch, pressing a little harder against him. “Feels like it,” he said with a smile.

Bruce let out a soft hum, bucking his hips up against John’s touch.

“Why don’t you come over here,” John said quietly, “You can get a closer look at my makeup, smudge it a little maybe.”

Another hum left Bruce’s lips as John spoke, the tone of his voice pulling at his gut. He lifted himself up and put his hand against the back of John’s chair, leaning down to kiss him.

John kissed back, moaning into Bruce’s mouth, he lifted his hands to begin undoing Bruce’s belt.

Bruce moaned into his mouth, pulling away for a moment, “You sure about this?”

John dug his fingers into the fabric of Bruce’s pants and pulled him back to him, “Yeah I’m sure, Brucie.” Bruce kissed down at him as he undid Bruce’s pants and pulled them down, his boxers following a moment later. He took Bruce’s length into his hand and stroked it slowly.

Bruce groaned into John’s mouth as his hand moved, he thrust forward softly, kissing at John passionately, his tongue dipping into his mouth and John’s tongue dipping into his.

He wondered if kissing would make John’s lipstick smudge or if that spray he put on his face held the lipstick in place too.

He deepened the kiss, a hand moving to the back of John’s head to pull him deeper. His other hand dragged down John’s chest to fumble at his waistline.

John let out a soft chuckle against Bruce’s lips. He took his hand from Bruce’ shaft for a moment to help him pull down his pants, letting out a soft hiss as Bruce’s hand brushed against him. Quickly his hand returned to Bruce’s shaft, moving almost in unison, moaning loudly into each other’s mouths, nipping at each other’s lips.

“John, you feel good,” Bruce mumbled out, his head swimming in their kiss.

John smiled against him, “What a wordsmith you are.” He pushed Bruce away slightly, smiling up at him. His eyes turned down to Bruce’s cock, then back up to Bruce, pursing and licking his lips.

His lipstick had smudged.

The sight of it cause a shiver down Bruce’s spine, a tug in his gut.

“I’m going to suck the _life_ out of you, Bruce,” John growled, his eyes still on Bruce. He ran his fingers over Bruce’s shaft, slowly he shifted forwards on his seat and took the head of his dick into his mouth.

Bruce’s breath caught in his throat at the sensation, warm and wet as his tongue pressed flat against him, his lips squeezing him.

He let out a deep moan as John’s mouth slowly took him, he dug his nails into the back of the chair, electricity shooting through him. He looked down at him, watching John’s lips work their way down his shaft. A gasp left him as John reached his hilt, the muscles at the back of his throat swallowing around him.

“John…” Bruce groaned out, his mouth lulled open as John began to bob his head, keeping his lips tight. He let out another hard breath, it felt so amazing, he couldn’t believe it, it was hard to resist the urge to thrust forward or grab his hair. This was the first time John had done this without them discussing it first, he didn’t want to do anything that might upset him or put him off.

John pulled back, pulling off almost completely, lapping at the precome and drool on the tip of Bruce’s cock. His eyes turned up to Bruce, bleary and lidded. “Come on,” he said, his voice cracking slightly, “Don’t hold back.”

Bruce let out a soft groan, watching John’s mouth move on him. He moved his hand from the chair and buried his fingers into John’s hair, pulling it slightly. He moaned in response, moving his hand to himself and beginning to stroke himself hurriedly.

John let out a soft groan as he took Bruce into his mouth again, moving along with the hand on his hair as it tugged and pulled at him, Bruce’s nails scratching softly against his scalp.

The movement of John’s hand on himself spread through him, Bruce could feel him trying to stay steady, he put his free hand on John’s shoulder, his other hand still deep in his hair, helping him steady himself.

“That feels so good, John,” Bruce growled, panting softly.

John shifted his hand to Bruce’s hips, urging him to thrust forward. Bruce complied happily, thrusting forward in time with the movements of John’s head, moaning as he sped up, moving from his hilt to his tip and back along his shaft.

Bruce began to pant softly, spots appearing in front of his eyes. He hadn’t been expecting the day to take this turn, and it was something they did so rarely, he knew he wouldn’t last long, it felt too good. Although he wasn’t sure how close John was.

He growled and groaned, his head tipping to watch John work his magic.

John let out a long groan against him, shivers and shocks shooting through Bruce. He absently dug his nails into John’s shoulder, his shallow thrusts turning more erratic.

“I’m close,” he growled out.

John gripped Bruce’s hip to hold him still, pulling off a little to lick and suck at the head of Bruce’s cock, his eyes turning up to meet Bruce’s again, soft moans and growls leaving him.

He opened his mouth slightly, moving his hand from Bruce’s hip to his dick, wrapping his hand around him tight and pumping fast. The sight was enough to push Bruce over the edge, let alone the sensation of John’s hand and mouth on him.

He let out a long moan as he felt himself empty into John’s mouth, a soft flood of pleasure filling him.

“Oh, fuck, John,” Bruce groaned.

John smiled up at him, swallowing pointedly. He let out a soft moan, his hand still moving fast on himself.

Bruce dropped down onto his knees, pulling john into a kiss and nestling between his legs. He took John’s length into his hands and began to stroke him, trying to keep John’s pace.

John moved his hand to the back of Bruce’s head, grabbing his hair tight and pulling at it hard, moaning against his lips as he kissed at him, messy and deep, Bruce could taste himself in John’s mouth, it was intoxicating.

“Faster,” John said into his mouth, his nails digging into Bruce’s scalp, his hips bucking into Bruce’s hand. “I’m… I’m…” he mumbled against Bruce’s lips, soft gasps leaving him. He let out a soft whine as his dick spasmed in Bruce’s hand.

He pulled out of the kiss, panting loudly, he looked at Bruce with a dazed smile, a soft laugh left him as he flopped back onto the sofa. “Wow,” he said loudly.

Bruce smiled, looking him up and down, “Wow?”

John nodded, “We’ve never done it like that before,” he said, smiling still, he sounded almost excited. He was shaking.

“What do you mean? Are you ok?” Bruce tried to hide any worry from his voice.

John ran his fingers through his hair, nodding his head softly. “I-I took initiative, we didn’t plan any of it, I just… knew what I wanted to do and I did it and I didn’t freak out at all, there was no doubt in my mind about what I wanted and…” he shook his head again, letting out another laugh, “I feel so invigorated.” He leant forward to give Bruce another kiss, “That was the best thing we’ve ever done.”

Bruce smiled, rubbing John’s knee, “I’m glad you’re making progress.”

“I’m glad too,” John smiled, “Are you proud of me,” he giggled.

“Very,” Bruce nodded, leaning in to kiss him again.


	28. Chapter 28

“It was nice seeing you today, Joan,” Bruce said as he led her towards the door, “Thankyou for coming to tell us in person,” he glanced towards the parlour, where he’d last seen John, “It means a lot to John to be involved.”

Joan smiled at him, “It’s alright, Bruce, it’s nice to know someone who’s as excited about the baby as I am.” Her smile widened slightly, “Don’t tell him, but I’m going to ask him to be the godfather. I’m going to tell him at the baby shower.”

Bruce’s eyes widened, “ _Really_?” he said, shocked, “He’ll-He’ll be ecstatic to hear that.” He let out a small happy breath, “That’s great.”

Joan nodded, “John will do an amazing job, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Bruce echoed Joan’s nod, “I couldn’t imagine a better person.” He cleared his throat gently, lowering his voice a little, “You know he sees you as a parental figure. Letting him into your family like this, you have no idea how much it’ll mean to him.”

“I do think of him as a part of my family, Bruce, and I’m sure he’ll make a fantastic big brother.”

Bruce felt a soft tug in his chest, it was all he could do to not to tear up. This was going to make John so happy.

He jolted as a door slammed behind him, turning his head to see John walking in.

“Sorry I took so long,” he said, smiling, “You’ll be going now?”

Joan nodded, “That’s right, John, I’m off to tell my sister next.”

John’s mouth opened wide, “You told me before you told your sister?”

Joan nodded again, “Yes, I’m telling people in order of who will be most excited, you were top of the list.”

John let out a squeak, “Really?! That makes me so happy,” he threw himself forward to hug her, letting out a soft whine. “When are we meeting up again?”

Joan hugged him back, pulling back after a moment, “I’m not really sure, I’ve got a busy week and honestly I’m not feeling 100%.”

John pouted and nodded, “Ok, next week maybe?”

She nodded, “We’ll see.”

“I’ll text you!” John smiled, opening the door to let Joan out.

“Bye John, bye Bruce,” Joan said as she left.

Both the men lifted a hand in goodbye, watching as she left.

“Bye Joan!” John said from the door as he watched her get in her car and drive off, she wouldn’t be able to hear him but it was a habit he had, he said it felt polite.

He turned back to Bruce, a wide smile on his face, “It’s a boy!” he squeaked, reiterating what Joan had come to tell them, jumping up and down and flapping his hands happily.

“It’s a boy!” Bruce said back, sounding equally happy.

“It’s a little boy,” John began to laugh, “I was hoping it’d be a boy.”

“You’ll have a little brother,” Bruce joked, he took a step towards John, wrapping his hand around his hip.

John let out a tittered laugh, “I wish…” He let out a soft breath, smiling widely and genuinely, “I’m so happy right now, Bruce.”

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Bruce said softly. He could feel a warmth in his chest, if John was happy now he couldn’t even imagine how happy he’d be to find out he was being made the child’s godfather.

John nodded happily, excitement filing him again, “Oh, I know _exactly_ what we’re getting for the baby shower. I’ve been researching and there’s this thing I think Joan will love! It’s like if a play centre and a change-mat had a baby, it’ll be so useful and the baby will love it.”

Bruce smiled, “That sounds great,” he let out a soft laugh, “I bet it’s purple and green too.”

John shrugged and nodded, “What can I say? I’ve got to stay on brand.” He gasped suddenly, patting Bruce’s arm, “Can we set up a room for him? For if Joan needs a babysitter?”

Bruce let out a soft chuckle, nodding, “I suppose so, he’ll probably be spending a lot of time here with his big brother, won’t he?”

John smiled, giving Bruce a soft shove, “Bruce, stop it. It’s fun to joke but it might make Joan uncomfortable.” He looked away for a moment, “I’m excited and everything, but I don’t want to _impose_ or whatever.”

Bruce smiled, “I don’t think there’s any chance of that.” He shifted on his feet, debating to himself how much he should tell John. “She said she thinks of you as part of her family.”

John’s jaw hung open, “She said that? With her mouth?”

Bruce nodded, “Yeah, she did.”

John let out a happy squeak, clapping his hands together, “That’s so good!”

Bruce nodded again, “I’m pretty sure that means you can say it all you like.”

Part of him wished Joan hadn’t told him what she was planning. Every time they talked about the baby now he’d want to tell him. He knew John had doubts about his relationship with Joan, if his familiarly feelings were reciprocated at all. John always found it difficult to tell, and he worried about it a lot. He’d want to tell him to help put his mind at ease.

A loud breath left him, he closed his eyes and pulled John into a hug, holding him tight.

John let out a soft chuckle, hugging back. “Hey,” he cooed after a moment, “I get you’re happy, but this isn’t like you, is something up?”

Bruce shook his head, letting out a quiet sigh, he pulled away, smiling still.

“Y’sure?” John chuckled. He lifted his hand to rub Bruce’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes.

After a moment his smile fell. “Bruce,” he said softly, “If it’s making you uncomfortable or anything I have other people I can talk to about it.”

Bruce shook his head, “No, it’s not that. Really. I’m just very happy that you’re happy.”

John looking him over, rubbing his arms again, “We should do something for you for the rest of the day. How about a phone call to Alfred? You’re always really happy after talking to him.”

Bruce shook his head, “John, I said I’m ok. Although Alfred would probably like to hear the news.”

John’s eyes widened, “He _totally_ would! He sounded really excited the last time we talked about it.”

“It’s a shame he can’t be here,” Bruce said softly. He shook his head, the happiness in him slowly turning to slight melancholy.

“Maybe he can visit?” John suggested, “He and Joan would get on so well I just know it! It’s been _ages_ since I saw him.”

Bruce gave a nod, “I’ll look into it. Maybe he can come over for the baby shower?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I will not be uploading tomorrow and possibly not the day after either. That sick cat I was talking about has escaped so I have to go hunt for him, also my partner's got to travel 8 hours to have a medical exam tomorrow, on top of that my younger sister is getting married on friday so I have to go out tomorrow to buy a suit, so I'm very busy and very stressed right now so sadly I can't write anything. :C See you on the other side.


	29. Chapter 29

Bruce’s coughs and sniffles echoed through the house, they reverberated through the room, shaking him. His head was pounding, every hair on him raised, he could barely breathe or move. Simply staying conscious seemed like too much effort.

“John,” he tried to shout, though the word left him as a whisper.

He let out a whined growl, picking up his phone. It felt like a brick in his hand.

‘John?’ he messaged.

He stared at the blinding light. The screen was as dim as it could go but it still seemed as if he had the sun in his hand.

‘ _Soup and meds are on their way’_ John messaged back after a moment.

‘ _Poor dear_ ’ he added a second later.

Bruce frowned, the movement making his sinuses ache. ‘Don’t make fun of me.’

‘ _I’m not!_ ’ John insisted, _‘I feel bad for you, you can’t even talk!_ ’

Bruce sent him a frowny face emoji. ‘Just bring me my soup.’

A small knock came from the door as John tried to open it from the other side. Bruce closed his eyes for a moment in frustration.

After a few tries John managed to get the door open, he smiled at Bruce, his foot on the door handle.

“How are you doing, little soldier?” John smiled as he walked in, being careful with the tray he was holding, not wanting to spill the soup or tea balanced on it.

“I told you not to do that to the door,” Bruce breathed out.

John tutted, “Now, now, save your strength, I can barely hear you anyway.” He smiled, “Let’s pretend you just said that you’re feeling like crap and you would love for me to feed you some soup.”

“You’re not feeding me soup,” Bruce tried to protest.

John shushed him, smiling widely, walking to the bed and placing the tray on the bedside table, “I said save your strength, you’re not even talking right now Brucie, you’re basically just wheezing. You sound really dumb and I’m trying _so_ hard not to laugh at you.”

Bruce closed his mouth tight, letting out a soft growl of defiance.

John studied him for a moment. “You don’t want me to feed you..?” he shrugged, “Ok,” he gestured to the bowl of soup. “Go ahead and try to feed yourself, give me a _real_ reason to laugh.”

Bruce frowned and straightened himself up. He reached out to pick up the soup spoon. He had trouble gripping it at first. Then his hand started shaking. He lifted the spoon, slowly, shaking still.

John let out a loud laugh, watching the chicken soup spill from the spoon. “Ok, ok, that’s enough,” he grinned, his hand shooting out to take the spoon, “You’re going to spill it everywhere.” He reached out with his other hand to rub Bruce’s arm, “But that was a good effort…”

Bruce looked at the spoon as John ripped it from his hand, it didn’t seem to have taken any effort on his part.

He flopped back on the bed, defeated, a deep and sad frown on his face.

“May I feed you your soup?” John asked, grinning. He held up his hand, “Nod or shake your head, don’t try to talk,” he added.

Bruce grit his teeth, nodding reluctantly.

John let out a small chuckle and dipped the spoon back into the soup, lifting it slowly to Bruce’s lips.

Bruce winced a little as the hot spoon touched his lips, he sucked down the soup and swallowed it, the heat of the liquid stung but his throat already felt a little better.

John let out a small chuckle as Bruce swallowed. “That’s a good boy.” He dipped the spoon back into the soup and raised it to Bruce’s lips, watching him swallow a second mouthful.

Bruce happily drank it, then a third, then a fourth.

Then he felt a soft tug in his gut. He pulled back, lifting his hand slightly to ask John to stop.

John looked him up and down, “You feel queasy again..?” there was a not so subtle tone of concern to his voice.

Bruce gave a small nod.

John let out a deep sigh, “Try to keep it down, Bruce. Medicine is to be taken _with_ food, not _after_ vomiting.”

Bruce let out a small growl: it wasn’t like he intended to vomit.

“You think you can swallow your pills? There’s…” John looked down at the tray, “4 of them. And tea, ginger lemon and honey.”

Bruce nodded, he knew the tea would help.

“Tea first,” he tried to say, the words leaving him in a gargled croak.

John stared at him for a moment, Bruce could see the cogs whirring in his head as he tried to figure out what he’d said. “…Tea?” he said after a moment.

Bruce nodded.

John mirrored his nodded, “Ok, tea.” He picked up the small cup of tea and lifted it to Bruce’s mouth. “Try to swallow slowly, if you throw up on me I will beat you up, ill or not,” he chuckled.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, looking over at John, he’d retort if he could, instead he sniffed.

He took a slow sip of the drink, he could feel the phlegm in his throat clearing from the heat, the clog in his nose easing a little.

“Thankyou,” he said quietly as he finished the tea.

John smiled, “Oh, I heard you that time,” he chuckled, “You’re welcome, sweetums,” he leaned in to give Bruce a kiss on the forehead. He pulled away frowning, “You’ve still get a fever…” he shook his head. “The pills should help bring that down…”

Bruce nodded, he watched as John took the meds from the tray.

He opened his mouth and let John put the pills into his mouth.

“Here you go,” John took a bottle of water from the bedside table, “And some water.”

Bruce glugged down the pills, closing his eyes. He coughed loudly as John pulled the bottle away.

John let out a soft hiss, “You poor little thing,” he chuckled weakly, “The pills will help. I’ll let you get some rest,” he lifted himself from the bed, turning and leaning in to give Bruce another kiss on his forehead.

Bruce let out a soft hum in understanding and thanks, he shifted in the bed to lay down again, looking up at John and letting out a small breath. He’d been so helpful the past few days, going out to get medicine, making food for him, cancelling all of Bruce’s appointments, as well as keeping the place clean. He’d really stepped up to the plate.

He wanted to tell him thankyou, but he couldn’t quite get the words out yet.

He gave John a soft smile, hoping that would say something.

John smiled back, his brow wrinkling slightly and his eyes squinting a little. He let out another soft chuckle. “You’re so cute when you’re helpless,” he said affectionately. “Now get some sleep, unless you want me feeding you soup for the rest of your life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My cats are sick, my partner is sick, and I am also sick. My dog Bruce is.... not helpful at all... Help me I am suffering.


	30. Chapter 30

Bruce loved visiting Alfred, you could see the sea from the top of the hill, the last few minutes of the drive were absolutely beautiful, the sea air was delicious. He could tell why Alfred had chosen here to retire.

Alfred’s bungalow was at the bottom of the hill, only a few minutes’ walk from the local shop, a lovely family owned place that made and sold their own bread and cakes, it was hard to get Alfred to stop talking about how lovely the family was and how friendly they’d become over the few years Alfred had lived there.

John seemed ecstatically happy as he and Bruce left the car and began the short walk towards Alfred’s house. It was the first time he had come along as well.

“I can’t wait to meet Lisa,” he trilled excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he walked.

“Lisa? Which one’s Lisa again?” Bruce asked.

“The daughter, she turned 25 this week, I made her a card, I got you to sign it remember?”

Bruce nodded as he remembered, “Of course. I’m sure Alfred will love that you’re being friendly with them.”

“Well, any friend of Alfred’s is a friend of, uh, of mine…” his voice trailed off towards the end.

“It’ll be nice to meet them.” Bruce glanced over at John, realising now that something else had his attention now. He followed his eyeline to a cat a few meters ahead of them, between them and Alfred’s door.

“Oh,” he smiled. “Do you want to cross the street?” Bruce asked.

John shook his head, “It’s fine. Not like I’m _scared_ of them or something.” His eyes followed the black cat as it made its way towards them. Bruce could feel him tensing a little.

“Oh dear,” he muttered out as the cat reached them, “Shoo, ugly.”

Bruce held back a smirk. “You can pet him,” he suggested.

“Why on earth would I do that? Get cat stink all over my suit? No thankyou.”

The cat began to wrap itself around John’s legs in hello, John grimaced in return. “Uh, no, thankyou, cat, but no, go away,” he gave it a soft nudge with his foot.

Bruce smiled, “If you’re not scared of the cat why don’t you pet it?”

“I just don’t want to,” John said indignantly. He frowned at the animal, “Go away please, mister cat.”

Bruce shook his head, letting himself smile now, he crouched down and held out his hand, the cat trilled happily and rubbed its face against his hand.

“Hello,” Bruce cooed, he glanced up at John, “He’s a beautiful cat, look how shiny his fur is. He’s very friendly.”

John grunted, crossing his arms as he watched Bruce stroke the cat.

“Just hold your hand out, John,” Bruce instructed him softly.

John let out another grunt, weaker this time. Slowly he lowered himself and held out his hand, jolting a little at each of the cat’s movements.

A small smile came to his face as the cat rubbed against his outstretched hand, beginning to purr.

“Oh look at that,” John said, his smile widening, “I think he likes me.” He let out a small chuckle as the cat continued to rub against him.

The cat let out another trill at the sound of a door opening behind them, it darted off towards the noise.

Bruce turned his head to watch it go, realising that the door had been opened by Alfred.

“Oh, master Bruce,” Alfred said, surprised. A smile came to his face as he looked down between them and the cat. “I see you’ve met little Bruce.”

“Little Bruce?” Bruce asked as he got to his feet.

Alfred nodded, “Yes, the cat? That’s his name.”

John chuckled as he got up, “You named your cat after him? That’s absolutely _adorable_.”

“I didn’t name him that,” Alfred said with a shake of his head, “He was the neighbours cat, but they’re never home so he moved in with me.” He smiled, “Friendliest cat I’ve ever met, polar opposite of you, master Bruce.”

Bruce smirked, “I’m plenty friendly, Al.” He watched the cat trot into the house. “I’m glad you’ve got a friend.”

Alfred nodded, holding the door open for them. “I have far more friends than just my cat, Bruce.”

“Good to hear it,” Bruce said as he walked into the house, he looked around and absorbed the surroundings. Everything was white paint and dark wood, it looked very elegant and Edwardian.

“This is a lovely house,” John said as he entered, “I love the flowers out the front,” he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the front door.

“Thankyou,” Alfred smiled, “They’re called broken tulips.”

John turned to Bruce, “We should get some of those. They look lovely.”

“I’ll look into it,” Bruce agreed.

Alfred led them into the kitchen where a selection of cakes were laid out on the large oak dining table.

John looked down at them, his eyes widening, “Oh!” he almost shouted, “Are these from the shop?”

Alfred nodded, “Yes, practically fresh out the oven.”

John let out a soft hiss, “They look delicious.”

Alfred held out his hand, “Go ahead.” He turned to the kitchen counter, starting up the kettle and readying a tea set.

Bruce watched as the cat, little Bruce, followed them into the kitchen, taking up a seat at the table, the one too close to the wall for anyone else to sit it. He could just imagine Alfred and this little cat sharing meals at the table after a day of gardening and cleaning.

Bruce followed John’s lead and sat at the table, he took one of the small cupcakes from the table, studying it for a moment before taking a bite. “Oh, John has a card for their daughter.”

John nodded, “Yeah, it was Lisa’s birthday this week?”

Alfred smiled between them, “Oh, yes it was, that’s so thoughtful of you. We can pop over later to drop it in for her. I’m sure she’ll love it, I’ve seen some of your cards before, master John, they look very professional.”

“Thankyou,” John grinned. “It’s with our bags, in the car still.” He seemed a lot more relaxed now than he had when Alfred had come to stay with them, maybe the pressure of playing host before was what had stressed him out.

“That’s no problem,” Alfred smiled, “They know you’re coming over today, so I doubt they’d be expecting me until later as it is.”

“He’s been very excited to meet them,” Bruce said with a smile.

“Well, I do talk about them quite a lot,” Alfred admitted, smiling. “And I’ve told them all about the both of you too, I expect they’ll be excited to meet you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is still sick and I am very poor but now also I dont have any internet so I'm uploading this on my phone HAHAHAHHAHA! Isnt life GREAT KIDS!!


	31. Chapter 31

John reached out for Bruce’s hand as they walked along the clifftop. Bruce took it happily, looking over at him, he gave John’s hand a soft squeeze, and slowed to a halt as they reached the top. He looked John up and down, a soft breath leaving him.

Today had been truly perfect. Everything about it from the weather to the food. They’d talked for hours about the movie they’d watched the night before, slowly their talk had stopped, and they’d walked in comfortable silence.

There was nothing Bruce wanted more than to express this to John, he opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t find the words.

John chuckled gently and leaned in to kiss Bruce, his arms moving to Bruce’s waist.

“I saw a really nice little café down by the beach,” John said with a smile, “It’s getting a little warm, I kinda want a drink.”

Bruce let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Yeah, ok.” He looked down at their entwined hands as they began to walk again, “John…” he began, not sure where he was going with the sentence.

John smiled, “Yes, Brucie?”

Bruce smiled, shaking his head, still unable to word what he wanted to say. “This… I love you, John.”

John let out another soft laugh, leaning over to bump against Bruce, “I love you too.” He looked Bruce up and down, “You know you don’t have to say anything. I can tell how happy you are.”

“Yeah?” Bruce smiled.

John nodded, “Yep. You’re giving off a very happy energy right now.”

“That’s good to know.” He shook his head weakly, “I don’t think I’ve ever had a day this good.”

“I think a nice cold drink and some icecream might make it a little better.”

Bruce nodded, still smiling. He didn’t think there was anything that could wipe the smile from his face.

John led him by the hand down the sandy path towards a small building, letting out small happy humming noises as he walked.

“Here we are,” he said loudly as they reached the door, “Alfred recommended this place.”

“Oh he did?” Bruce said, looking around. It was a lovely place, it felt very casual but still well kept, everything had a blue-green tint to it, the reflection of the sun off the sea shone through the windows and cast beautiful patterns on the walls.

John smiled widely, “I’ll find us a seat, you get us drinks and icecream.” He thought for a moment, “I want… Orange juice, and strawberry iceream,” his eyes widened, “Oh, or banana if they have it.”

Bruce nodded, he left John to find a table and joined the short queue. He took a bottle of water and a bottle of orange juice from the fridge, and then looked down at the selections of icecream, they had banoffee, but not banana on its own.

He turned his head, looking for John. He spotted him at one of the small tables by the window. “John,” he said loudly. “They have banoffee?”

John clapped his hands together, “Perfect! That please!”

Bruce nodded, he turned his head back to pick out one for himself, deciding after a moment to also have the banoffee.

He smiled at the cashier as he ordered the icecream and paid, getting cups for them both rather than cones. He knew John liked the little pink spoons that came with the cups.

He walked to the table John had picked and put the icecreams and drinks on the table. He gave John a kiss on the forehead before sitting down.

A soft frown came to his face as he noticed a small sign on the table.

“John, this tables reserved,” he said with a frown, “Maybe we should…” he looked at the sign again, picking it up to read it.

“Reserved for Mr. and Mr. Wayne,” he read out loud, he looked up at John, “What’s…”

He paused midsentence, his mouth hanging open.

John sat grinning in front of him, a small box in his hand.

“John..?” Bruce asked quietly.

“Bruce,” John answered happily, shifting in his chair. He opened the box to reveal a silver ring.

“I, uh,” he let out a small chuckle, “You’ve helped me so much, Bruce, over the past few years. You’ve been so kind to me and understanding and forgiving. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you for that, but I want to try, for the rest of my life.”

Bruce smiled weakly, looking down at the ring, then back up at John. “You panned this whole day didn’t you..?”

John smiled and nodded, “Down to the last detail. Alfred helped, of course.” He let out a small chuckle, “But uh…” he glanced down at the ring, “I’m not hearing a yes..?”

Bruce let out a soft breath. “John, you’re amazing,” he shook his, “But… I don’t want you to do this as a way of paying me back. I don’t want paying back, John. Everything I’ve done for you is because I love you, because I think you’re a good person, you deserved a second chance.”

Johns eyes widened slightly, “So is that a _no_?”

Bruce held his hand up slightly, “It’s not a no, John.” He smiled, reaching forward to take John’s hand. “I will marry you, but not because I want paying back. If you’re going to propose to me I want it to be because you want to, not because it’s what you think you should do.”

John gave Bruce’s hand a squeeze, “Look at you… All this time and you’re still,” he let out a weak chuckle. He swallowed hard, letting out a breath, “I want to marry you because I want to marry you, Bruce. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to see you grow old and decrepit in front of my eyes, I want to laugh at you when you’re 85 and you can’t open your bottle of arthritis pills because of your arthritis.” He chuckled again, “It’ll be hilarious.”

“That’s not hilarious,” Bruce retorted.

John’s smile widened, “I want to argue with you about what is and is not hilarious for the rest of my life.”

Bruce smiled and nodded, “I want that too.”

John chuckled softly, “I’m going to need you to _say_ yes.”

“Yes,” Bruce stated, “Yes, John, I accept, I will marry you.”

John let out a loud squeal, throwing himself across the table to hug Bruce tight. He pulled away after a moment to take the ring out of the box. “Which finger does it go on?”

“This one,” Bruce held out his hand, his ring finger outstretched.

John nodded and pushed the ring onto his finger, small titters of happy laughter coming from him.

“Bruce I’m so happy. Today has been so perfect.”

Bruce nodded, “It really has been.” He looked at John, smiling, “I love you, John. You’re so amazing.”


	32. Chapter 32

Alfred looked up at Bruce and John as they walked through the door, a tentative smile on his face.

“Well?” he said, his eyes on the pair.

Bruce held up his hand, showing off the ring on his finger. John let out a tittered laugh at the movement, a gleeful smile on his face.

Alfred’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the ring on his hand, “You said yes?” he said, sounding almost shocked.

“How could I say no?” Bruce answered. He turned his hand to look at the ring himself, “It really is something isn’t it?” He paused for a second, turning to John, “How did you afford this anyway..?”

John smiled, lifting a finger to tap the side of his nose, “Never you worry.” He chuckled softly, “Don’t worry though, nothing illegal.”

Bruce huffed, he knew what that most likely meant; John had been selling pieces of his calligraphy online. He must have sold a lot to save up enough for a ring.

“You like it, right?” John urged, his eyes still on the ring.

Bruce nodded, “Of course I do,” he looked up at Alfred, “It’s very nice isn’t it.”

Alfred nodded, “Yes, very elegant.” He smiled, “Uh, I’m making you a special meal tonight, I have lobster thermidor in the oven.”

“Really?” Bruce smiled, his mouth watering at the thought.

“That was Alfred’s idea,” John chuckled. “He knows you even better than me.”

“I should expect so,” Alfred started, “I used to-“

“No,” Bruce said quickly, “Alfred, we don’t need to hear all that.”

John’s mouth fell open as he looked between Alfred and Bruce. “Hear all what?” he said excitedly.

Alfred smirked, “I would usually continue, however I don’t want to embarrass you on such a special day.”

John chuckled, reaching out to pat Alfred’s arm, “You can tell me later.”

“I shall,” Alfred said with a nod, he glanced over at Bruce with a smile before walking towards the kitchen.

Bruce smiled, watching as John walked to sit in one of the livingroom chairs. He followed him to sit on the chair opposite.

John glanced over at Bruce, smile wide on his face, “I’m going to grill Alfred later for all your embarrassing stories.”

“I expect nothing less from you.”

John’s eyes moved from his as Alfred’s cat entered the room. John’s smile fell slightly. “Hello,” he cooed tentatively.

He bit his lip as the cat hopped up on his lap, purring loudly as it rubbed against him.

John let out a soft chuckle, his eyes turning to Bruce again. The look on his face was infectiously happy, calming, Bruce couldn’t help smiling.

Bruce watched the cat settle on John’s lap, he extended a hand to give him a cautious pat.

“Hello, little Bruce,” John said softly, “You’re going to be my brother-in-law soon.”

Bruce smirked, “The cat is not my brother.”

John scoffed, “Yes he is. You’re Alfred’s son, and little Bruce is also Alfred’s son. That makes you brothers.” He gasped, “That mean’s Alfred’s going to be my father-in-law. Oh, now we _have_ to introduce Joan and Alfred.”

Bruce nodded, “I suppose you’re right. It’ll be nice for them to meet.” He let out a soft sigh as he thought to himself. John was collecting family members like they were trading cards, Joan, the baby, Bruce, and now Alfred and little Bruce. “You’re getting quite a big family now.”

John nodded, he stilled slightly as he thought about what Bruce has said, he let out a soft sigh, running his fingers through the cat’s fur. “I never imagined this would happen. There was,” he swallowed hard, his voice solemn as he spoke, “When I was first back in Arkham, before you started visiting me, I thought… that…” he glanced down at the cat as he continued to stroke it, “I was _convinced_ I’d be better off dead. I didn’t have anyone, Harley left, you’d left me too. I was just a _crazy_ piece of shit sitting there, using up resources.”

“John,” Bruce said softly, his gut twisting slightly. Part of him wanted to tell John not to talk like that, but he knew it was important to let him feel heard.

“Joan had me put on suicide watch for a little while,” a soft smile came to his face, his eyes turning up to meet Bruce’s, “No one really took it seriously, of course. ‘John? No, never, he’s too happy, our little ray of sunshine!’” he let out a weak chuckle.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said with a shake of his head, unsure of what else to say.

John’s smile widened a little, “I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me Bruce. I’m happy now, I’m _so_ happy. Every day is the best day of my life and I have so many people who care about me. This is beyond my wildest dreams.”

A soft smile came to Bruce’s face, matching John’s. “In that case I’m glad.” He lifted himself out of his chair and leaned over to give John a gentle kiss, cupping his chin as he did.

John let out a quiet breath as their kiss broke, looking up at Bruce and smiling again. “I’m glad too.” He lifted his hand to rub Bruce’s arm, “I’m so glad you started visiting me…”

Bruce let out a weak chuckle, “It feels like so long ago,” his brow furrowed slightly, “It was, I suppose. I wouldn’t have left you there on your own, I couldn’t bring myself to.” He frowned and huffed, “I was so mad at the time. You had been trying so hard. If… If things had happened differently things could have ended better.”

John chuckled and nodded, sinking deeper into his chair, still stroking the cat, “The odds were really against us there weren’t they.”

Bruce looked down at his hand, admiring the ring on his finger. Things could have worked out so differently, it could have been so much better, or so much worse. He wished he could have done something to prevent some of the hurt he’d caused John.

He looked up, intending to express that to John, but he stopped himself. John was slumped in the chair now, his eyes closed, his hand laying still on the purring cat.

In the few seconds Bruce had been thinking John had drifted off to sleep. Bruce didn’t blame him really, it had been a long and exciting day, though he hadn’t expected him to fall asleep so quickly.

He raised himself to his feet and quietly walked to the kitchen, where Alfred stood over the sink peeling vegetables.

“Master Bruce,” Alfred smiled as Bruce entered, his head turning from his work.

“John’s asleep,” Bruce said lightly.

“Ah,” Alfred said with a nod, his voice quietening, “Well he has had a big day,” he smiled, “If I’m honest, Bruce, it’s always surprising to see him sleep, I’ve never seen someone so constantly full of energy.”

Bruce nodded, “It’s like a switch with him, he’s either at 100 or 0.”

“You used to be like that,” Alfred said nostalgically. “I’m sure I’ve said it before but you two really are a perfect couple.” He bit his lip, pausing for a moment, “I was thinking I might go over to Kelly’s tonight for a couple of hours, she’s always full of gossip.”

“Why’s that?” Bruce asked, frowning weakly.

A small smile came to Alfred’s face, “Well you know. I thought you and John may want some time together, alone?”

Bruce’s face went blank, a soft blush appearing on his cheeks, “Oh. Uh,” he glanced away, “Thankyou, Alfred, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Alfred let out a small huff, “It’s really for my own peace of mind, master Bruce, the walls here are a lot thinner than at Wayne manor.”

Bruce shifted on his feet, his blush deepening, “Uh, it…” he swallowed hard, “You don’t have to go out of your way, Alfred. That’s not really a priority for us.”

Alfred’s smile widened a little, “I’ll go regardless, in case you get caught in the moment.”

“Well uh,” Bruce bit his lip, shifting awkwardly, “John and I haven’t actually… uh.”

Alfred’s eyes widened, “Oh, really? I’m sorry, I assumed, it has been a few years now.”

Bruce forced a smile, “It’s ok. I just mean… You don’t have to worry about going out.”

Alfred nodded, “There’s no worry about it, Kelly’s a dear friend.” He turned back to the veg, rinsing it under the tap. “I think I’ll go anyway, let you have some time, it doesn’t matter how you choose to spend it, you deserve some time alone.”

“That’s very nice of you, Alfred,” Bruce said sheepishly. He felt a little uneasy at the conversation, he felt the urge to say something to justify it, he didn’t want Alfred thinking that there was something wrong with their relationship. Just because they’d not had sex yet didn’t mean they loved each other any less.

He swallowed hard, his eyes cast down, “Johns recovery, uh,” he shook his head weakly, “It’s taking longer than we expected to get to the point where we can uh...”

“Oh?” Alfred said, trying to pretend he wasn’t curious about it.

“Yeah,” Bruce shifted on his feet, his eyes lifting back up to Alfred. “Not to say that I’m not happy, I’m perfectly fine with things moving slowly.”

“I can tell that you’re happy, sir,” Alfred smiled, “There’s something admirable about taking things slowly, in my view.” His smile widened, “It’s a nice change from you bringing home a different floosy every night.”

Bruce chuckled, a soft blush coming to his face, “I agree with you on that. This is a lot more emotionally rewarding.”

Alfred nodded, “It certainly seems like it. I’ve never seen you this comfortable with another person,” he smirked, “I expect you’ll be at it like bunnies once you’re able.”

Bruce frowned, blushing deeper, “Alfred!?”

“Just a joke, Bruce.” He glanced down at the oven, “If you’d and wake your fiancé now, the food will be ready in a moment.”

Bruce held up his hand, beginning to leave the room, “Please, no more jokes like that.”


	33. Chapter 33

John hummed softly as he stirred, pressing up against Bruce. Since the engagement John had slept in Bruce’s bed every night.

Bruce looked down from his book and smiled, outstretching his free hand to run it over John’s arm, feeling his soft skin.

“Good morning,” he said softly, smiling down at him.

“’Morning,” John croaked sleepily. “’s time?” he asked.

“Late,” Bruce answered.

John stretched in the bed, kicking the covers off himself. He let out a loud groan, “I don’t wanna get up,” he complained.

Bruce shrugged, “You don’t have to, we don’t have anything to do. I know you like your schedule but you’re not in Arkham anymore, no one’s going to force you to stick to it.”

John frowned, thinking over what Bruce had said, after a moment he nodded, “You’re right,” he said weakly.

He pulled the blankets back over himself and turned in the bed to hug Bruce again.

Bruce flinched as he touched the bandage on his arm. John recoiled as he noticed the movement.

“Sorry,” he almost yelped. He slowly returned his hand to the injured arm, running his fingers over the bandage. “Is it feeling any better?”

Bruce shook his head, “Not yet, my painkillers have worn off too.”

John frowned, “Well then we _have_ to get up and get you food and painkillers don’t we.”

“I can do that,” Bruce smiled.

John scoffed, “But what’s the point of staying in bed if you’re not here too? That’d just be boring.”

“I could bring you breakfast in bed,” Bruce smiled.

John shook his head, “No, it’s ok,” he stretched, wrapping his arms around Bruce again and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. “I’m awake now. We’ll get up.”

Bruce let out a soft sigh and nodded, he pulled the covers off them and turned to get up, he looked down at John and smiled, absorbing the sight of him.

John let out a soft chuckle as Bruce’s eyes trailed over him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I like what I see,” Bruce replied, a soft smirk on his face.

“I suppose I am quite pretty,” John looked Bruce up and down, grinning, “Have you seen yourself though? You’re so handsome and so buff and everything. Compared to you I look like a slug.” He smirked, “At least I know you like me

“No, you don’t,” Bruce protested, letting out a weak chuckle. He leaned down to kiss him, “You’re very handsome.”

John followed him up as he pulled out of the kiss. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed and stretching again.

For the first time that day he picked up his phone, frowning at the screen. “Oh, look at that,” he said with a sigh, “Seems like I do have things to do today.”

Bruce began to get dressed, pulling a shirt over his head. “What do you mean?”

A smile spread across John’s face, a soft laugh leaving him. “This really is something to wake up to…” his sentence trailed off, leaving Bruce confused as he continued to get dressed.

His eyes stayed on John, watching the man read whatever it was he was reading. After he finished dressing he stood, still watching.

“So..?” he said after a moment.

John’s eyes didn’t leave the phone, “I’m not really sure what’s happened…” his eye flit up to Bruce and then back to his phone, “Go get us a coffee, would you? Don’t forget your painkillers, I’ll be in my room.”

Bruce frowned, “Ok…” He looked John up and down, “Everything ok?”

John chuckled, nodding, “Oh, everything is _very_ ok… I think.”

“Good,” Bruce said, letting a smile come to his face. He walked to the door, glancing back at John before leaving the room.

He looked excited, Bruce was glad to see that. As nice as things were nowadays their everyday lives were rarely that exciting. It was nice to see him excited about something other than taking down criminals.

He began to make the coffee, turning on the machine and rooting around the cupboards for something to eat, he settled on a banana for himself, and a chocolate protein bar for John. Once the coffee had finished pouring he put a few scoops of sugar into John’s cup, and walked back down the hall towards John’s room, holding a cup coffee in each hand.

He gave the door a soft knock, opening the door with his knee and walking in.

“Sugar in mine?” John asked, not looking up from his desk.

“Hello to you too,” Bruce smiled, putting the cup down next to John’s laptop.

John let out a slow breath, a smile coming to his face as he took his eyes from his work and settled them on Bruce. “Hello,” he stated, “Thankyou for the coffee, did you remember the sugar?”

Bruce nodded, “Yes I did.” He looked between he papers on John’s desk and his laptop, “What’s gotten you so busy today?” he asked, smiling. “It’s usually me who’s rushed off my feet.”

John smiled, picking up his cup and taking a sip of coffee, he learnt back in his chair and looked over his work, “It’ll take me more than just today to do this.” He looked up at Bruce, “I have commissions to do, _seventeen_ of them.”

Bruce jaw dropped a little, “How did you get so many?”

John let out a tittered laugh, “Some famous person gave me a shout out, apparently he got one of my cards for his birthday!”

“That’s amazing…” Bruce shook his head weakly, he outstretched a hand to pat John’s shoulder, “That’s _amazing_ , John, I’m so proud of you.”

John nodded, “I know right? But I’m going to be bust as _shit_ for the next week or so, they all want different designs and stuff.”

“Can I help?” Bruce asked, tentatively, “Then at least you won’t be stuck in here on your own, we can still spend some time together.”

John shrugged, “Well,” he put his hand on his chin, the coffee in his other hand dangerously close to spilling, “You can’t do the calligraphy, obviously. But perhaps you can… stick some stuff together? Think you can handle glue?”

Bruce nodded weakly, “I’m sure I can manage that.”


	34. Chapter 34

Bruce looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, he’d been up for almost 2 hours, he’d gotten up a little early, but John’s alarm should have woken him by now. Where was he?

He took a bite of his toast and looked down at his phone, unlocking it with his spare hand and pulling up his messages.

The last one from John was from the previous night; ‘ _I’m using your shampoo_ O: ‘

He let out a weak hum, frowning as he wrote out a text.

‘John are you up yet?’

He looked away from his phone as he continued eating his toast, licking the crumbs off his fingers. If John hadn’t replied by the time he was finished then he’d go and wake him.

Perhaps he’d had a bad nights sleep and needed an extra few minutes.

He left the kitchen table and put his plate in the sink, then looked back at his phone.

John had replied with a single frowny face emoji.

Bruce’s face softened, and he pressed the button to facetime John.

A blanket showed itself on the screen.

“John?” Bruce asked.

A green tortoise plush appeared on the screen, John’s hand visibly holding it.

“ _I’m Terry, John can’t come to the phone right now, would you like to leave a message?”_ John said down the phone, his voice shrill as he gave his voice to the toy.

Bruce smiled weakly, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Hello, Terry. Why is John unavailable?”

John let out a hum, turning the tortoise slightly to look at him, then back at the phone, “ _He’s sad._ ”

“Oh dear!” Bruce said, humouring him, “What’s made John sad?”

John twitched the tortoise slightly in what Bruce guessed was meant to be a shrug, “ _He forgot to take his pills._ ”

Bruce frowned softly, “John…” he cooed.

“ _Um, John’s not here_ ,” he squeaked.

Bruce let out a soft breath, “Terry,” he said softly, “… Has John taken his morning pills?”

John shook the tortoise, meaning no.

“Ok,” Bruce smiled, “Tell John I’m going to bring him a cup of tea, and he can drink it and have his pills. Can you ask John if he’d like some food too?”

John made the tortoise nod. “ _He would like an apple.”_

“An apple,” Bruce nodded, “Ok. Tell him I’ll be there in a moment.”

“ _Ok,_ ” John squeaked again, twitching the tortoise in his hand again, “ _He says he loves you_.”

Bruce’s smile widened, “Tell him I love him too.”

He watched for a moment as John fumbled with the phone, trying to hang up the call, his face showed on the screen for a second or so, and Bruce felt his heart sink at the state he was in. His eyes were swollen and dark, he looked as if he’d been crying, he didn’t look like he’d slept.

“Oh, John,” he said quietly to himself, shaking his head as he looked at the black screen.

He chewed his lip as he made some tea and picked out the best looking apple for John.

Every now and then this would happen, John would forget his meds and as a result he’d suffer mood swings, sometimes hallucinations too. It was awful to see him suffer like that. There was nothing Bruce could do except try to make John feel comfortable and loved.

He carried the tea and food up to Johns’ room, giving the door a soft knock, waiting for John to welcome him in.

“Come in Bruce, if that is your real name,” John said from behind the door.

Bruce let out a soft huff and opened the door, “Either that or Batman. I think I prefer being called Batman though…” he confessed. He looked over at the bed, John was wrapped in his blankets, intentionally completely covered by them so Bruce wouldn’t see him.

“Well then, come on in Batman,” John said weakly.

Bruce walked across the bedroom, placing the cup of tea on the bedside table, pushing a rubix cube and an origami crane out of the way to make room.

“Do you want your apple?” he asked, holding it out towards him.

John’s arm appeared from under the covers, groping at the air hopelessly, trying to take the apple.

Bruce handed it over to him and then sat on the edge of the bed.

“You’re having a sad day?” he asked.

John nodded under the blankets.

“You know it’s ok to be sad,” Bruce said, trying to comfort him.

John shook his head, “No it’s not.”

“Everyone has sad days,” Bruce reminded him.

John scoffed, “Yeah, but when it happens to me it’s because I’ve done something stupid, like forgetting to take my meds.”

“Everyone who takes meds forgets to take them sometimes,” Bruce reassured him. “Have you taken them now?”

John stayed silent under his blanket, curling in on himself slightly.

Bruce let out a soft sigh, he opened the bedside table draw and took out John’s bottle of meds, dropping a couple out onto his hand and putting them next to the teacup.

“What’s happening to you isn’t very nice, but it’s not unusual, John. I’m sure you have friends who have had this happen?”

John nodded again. “That doesn’t make me feel much better though. It just reminds me that people I care about have to feel like this too.”

Bruce bit his lip, looking away for a moment. He let out a soft breath, if talking about it wasn’t going to make him feel better then taking his mind off it might be a better idea.

“Your tea will get cold if you don’t drink it,” he said softly. “Would you like to watch a movie? We can hold up in here all day and watch Netflix?”

After a moment John finally emerged from under his covers, again Bruce felt his stomach drop at how distressed he looked. Slowly John reached over and took his cup of tea, swallowing his pills before sipping it slowly. He looked over at Bruce and forced a smile.

“Can we watch Disney?” he asked. “I want to watch happy things,” he added quietly.

Bruce smiled softly, “We can watch whatever you want.” He watched John drink his tea. Slowly he shifted on the bed, moving further up to lay next to John.

John put his cup down and leaned against Bruce, letting out a sigh and slowly turning his head, pressing his forehead hard against Bruce’s arm.

“I want to watch wreck it ralph first, then inside out.” he said quietly after a moment.

Bruce nodded, “That sounds good.” He took the remote and selected the film. He wrapped his arm around John’s shoulders, pulling him close. “If you want to cry at the sad bits that’s ok,” he said softly.

“I know that,” John said, “I’m an adult I can do what I want, that includes crying at kids movies.”

“That’s right,” Bruce said with a nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to keep updating this whenever I can. Life is getting on top of me a little (I lost my job did I mention that lol) but I really do like this story.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is so short I'm so sorry ^^"

Bruce watched from his seat as John walked into the lounge, he crossed his arms, an eyebrow raising.

“What?” John smiled, “Don’t you like it?”

Bruce looked John up and down, taking a moment to absorb his ensemble before replying.

His face was covered in bright makeup, he was wearing a bright blue suit covered in pride flag patches, a tshirt underneath with the phrase ‘I think this guy’s gay’.

“I thought you were bisexual..?” he said slowly.

John pouted, “Yeah, they sent me the wrong one, but gay is used as an umbrella term, so I figure it’s ok.”

His pout turned quickly into a smile, “I’m so happy you can come this year,” he cooed, “You’ll get to walk around with me and Zan, it’ll be so fun!”

Bruce nodded, “I’m looking forward to it, I’ve never been before.”

John frowned softly, “But I thought you funded it?”

“Partially, yes,” he shrugged, “But I’ve never been. I’ve always been too busy.”

“What? Bruce, you _make_ time for these things, you _have_ to show your support.”

“I help to fund it, John, that’s my way of showing support.”

John rolled his eyes, “And people call me socially inept. Bruce, you can’t just throw money at something like this. These are your people, spend time with them.”

“I’ve been protecting them, John, I’ve done a lot.”

“Whatever,” John waved his hand dismissively. “So, what are you wearing?” he smiled, changing the subject.

“I’m wearing this,” Bruce said, gesturing down to the navy blue suit he was wearing.

John crossed his arms, “No.”

“What’s wrong with my suit?” he asked.

John smirked, “Are you serious?” he scoffed, “It’s so boring, this is pride, not a funeral!”

“This is my favourite suit,” Bruce said defensively.

“At least let me put some stickers on it then, and wear some of those rainbow sunglasses or something.”

Bruce let out a soft breath, defeated by John’s enthusiasm. “Ok, you can put stickers on, nothing that will tarnish the fabric though, and I’ll buy some things whilst I’m there.”

John let out a happy squeak, his face splitting into a smile. He pulled a handful of stickers out of one of his pockets, handing them out for Bruce to see. “Would you like the bisexual ones or the traditional rainbow? Or both?”

Bruce looked through the pile, there was a wide selection of coloured flags in various sizes, some of them Bruce didn’t recognise. “I think I’ll have a few of each,” he frowned as he continued to look through them, “I didn’t know there were so many flags.”

“I’m going to be handing them out,” John said with a nod. He pulled a few bi and gay flags from the pile and stuck them on Bruce’s lapel. “There,” he said quietly, “Now you’ll look like you belong there.”

He stuffed the stickers back into his pocket and looked down at Bruce, smiling happily, after a moment he leant down to give him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a lipstick mark on his face. He pulled away and giggled, “That looks great,” he smirked.

Bruce smiled, looking up at John, “I’m sure two would look even better,” he suggested.

John let out another giggle, leaning down again to kiss his other cheek. He sat himself on Bruce’s lap, smiling as he looked him over, “You look so handsome,” he said quietly, “I mean _so_ handsome.” He combed his fingers through Bruce’s hair, mussing it slightly.

Bruce moved a hand to John’s hip, “You’re very handsome too.”

John nodded, “I know I am, I spent so long getting ready this morning.”

“When do we have to leave?” Bruce asked, a sultry tone to his voice.

John smirked, “Zan will be here in about 10 minutes, so we don’t have time to do anything. Plus I’m not about to let you mess up my make up.” He shifted on Bruce’s lap, “But maybe in the car on the way home we can do a little something.”

Bruce nodded gently, “That sounds like a very good idea.” He gave Joker’s hip a soft pat, “…We don’t want Zan to find us like this.”

John rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I guess,” he let out a weak chuckle as he lifted himself to his feet, “I’m going to enjoy showing you off at pride.”

“You’ll get a lot of opportunities to,” Bruce smiled, getting to his feet. “Now,” he said, a little more serious now, “Have you eaten?”

John nodded, “I have indeed.”

“And taken your pills?”

“I have.”

“You know that means you can’t drink.”

John’s face fell, “Aw…” he said quietly. After a moment he smiled again, “I guess that means you’ll have to drink for the both of us.”

Bruce smiled softly, “I won’t be dinking either,” he said sternly.

“What?” John whined, “But you’re so fun when you drink.”

“I won’t enjoy myself as much if I feel vulnerable. Plus I’m driving remember.”

“Oh yeah,” John rolled his eyes. “I’m sure we’ll have fun regardless.”


	36. Chapter 36

John smiled at Bruce, squeaking happily and bouncing on his feet as they waited for Joan to open the door. He looked down at the green wrapped box in Bruce’s hands, nibbling on his lips and reaching out to pull at one of the silver ribbons, curling it a little tighter.

“John,” Bruce said softly, “It looks perfect, you don’t have to fiddle with it.”

John nodded, pulling his hand away as if he’d been scolded, he let out a small whine. “I’m just so nervous,” he growled.

“I know there are going to be some new people here-“

John shook his head quickly, “Not just new people, Joan’s _sister_ , her sister, Bruce. If anyone has the authority to depose me as godfather it’s her.”

Bruce smiled softly, “What about Joan’s partner?”

John rolled his eyes, “Oh please, she doesn’t care what he thinks, he probably won’t even show up. But the sister? She cares what she thinks. I gotta make a good impression.”

“I’m sure you will, John,” Bruce reassured him.

John jolted slightly as the door opened, a woman he didn’t know stood behind it.

“You must be Sophie!” John said loudly, taking her hand and shaking it, “I’m John.”

Sophie looked him up and down, giving a soft nod as she pulled her hand back, a look of disgust on her face barely hidden by a forced smile. “Yeah, Joan said I’d know you when I saw you.” She looked over at Bruce, “And you must be the husband.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow; there was no way she didn’t know who he was. “Fiancé, actually,” he shifted the gift in his arms awkwardly, freeing a hand to shake Sophie’s, “Bruce Wayne, nice to meet you.”

Sophie nodded, retracting her hand and taking a small step back, “Yeah, you too.” She looked backwards into the flat, “Well, come on in I guess. You’re a little early, you can help set up.”

“That’s what I was hoping!” John said, pushing past her and walking into the house as if it were his own.

“Mom, I’m home,” he called, grinning. Bruce watched him as he walked through the front hall, letting Sophie close the door behind them.

After a few seconds John disappeared into the kitchen to find Joan.

Bruce looked back over his shoulder at Sophie, glancing down at the box in his arm, “Where should I put this?” he asked.

“Oh, on the coffee table in the livingroom,” she answered, pointing into one of the rooms.

Bruce nodded and walked in, smiling at the sight of a heavily pregnant Joan on the sofa with John sat next to her, a coffee table with a couple of presents infront of them.

“Oh, Bruce, good to see you,” Joan smiled, shifting where she sat.

“Good to see you too, Joan, you look well.”

Joan scoffed, “I don’t feel it.” She let out a soft breath, “I thought Mr Pennyworth was coming with you?”

Bruce nodded, “He got a little held up, he’ll be here soon.”

Joan turned her eyes to the box in Bruce’s arms, her smile widening, “Is that for me?” she asked.

John nodded, “Yeah, it’s from me and Bruce, I made the wrapping paper myself.”

“I can tell,” Joan smiled, “It looks gorgeous. Put it on the table, I’ll open it last so that everyone will get to admire it.”

John blushed, letting out a giggle, “Aw, I’m flattered.”

Bruce smiled and put the box down in the centre of the table. He turned his head as he heard a knock at the front door. “Oh,” he said happily, “That’ll be Alfred.”

He stepped back into the hall and watched Sophie open the door. “Alfred,” Bruce said as Alfred walked in, a small box in his hands. “Come and meet Joan.”

Alfred said a polite hello to Sophie before walking through to the livingroom.

“You must be Joan,” Alfred said, smiling down at her.

“That’s me” she said, her smiling mirroring his, “I think we’ve talked before on the phone.”

Alfred’s eyes widened after a moment, “Oh, I do believe we have,” he said aghast, “I can’t believe I forgot, I do apologise.”

She waved her hand dismissively, “Oh its fine, you were going through a lot at the time, stressful stuff.”

Alfred’s face flushed a little, “Yes… I’m glad that’s behind us all,” he said quietly.

John looked between Alfred and Joan, entertained by their exchange, he glanced at Bruce, “My mind is being _blown_ right now Brucie.”

Alfred cleared his throat, “I brought you this,” he said softly, holding out the small box in his hands. “It’s not very useful per se, it’s more a sentimental thing.”

“Oh really?” Joan smiled, “That’s intriguing,” she held out her hands, “I’ve got to see what this is.”

Alfred let out a weak chuckle and handed over the box, “If you insist,” he said happily.

“I one hundred percent insist,” she said as she took the gift, carefully removing the paper the reveal a clear plastic box containing a small toy elephant and a flashcard book.

Bruce let out a small gasp, recognising the toy. “Elmer,” he said quietly.

Alfred nodded, “That’s right, master Wayne.” He looked down at Joan, “I got the same thing for Bruce’s mother at his babyshower.”

“That is such a lovely gesture,” Joan said softly, smiling weakly.

“I wonder what happened to that toy,” Bruce said weakly.

John bit his lip, letting out a small squeak, “Bruce,” he smiled, “It’s in my calm room, I found it in my bedroom when I first moved in. It’s with the rest of the plushies.” He chuckled softly, “I’ve been calling her Polly, though.”

Bruce smiled softly, “Polly’s a good name, I’m glad she’s safe.”

Joan smiled, continuing to inspect the box. “I’m sure the baby will love it. Thankyou, Alfred.”

Alfred gave a small nod, “It’s what a god-grandparent is for.”

John chuckled, rocking slightly on his chair, looking between Alfred and Bruce, “See, Bruce, I told you god-grandparent was a thing.”

Bruce shook his head, looking at Alfred, “He told you to say that, didn’t he?”

Alfred smiled, “He may have mentioned it to me.”

Joan smiled, “Well, If something happens to me then John will become the kid’s guardian, so Alfred would be the grandfather.”

John stuck his tongue out at Bruce. “I told you I told you.”


	37. Chapter 37

“I don’t think Sophie liked me,” John said as he flopped back onto his and Bruce’s bed, his hand lifting up to cover his eyes. “God I’m exhausted…” he mumbled to himself.

Bruce smiled weakly, shaking his head, “No, I’m sure she…” he rolled his eyes, his head shaking again, slightly more decidedly, “No, ok, she hated you.”

“She didn’t even give me a chance,” John whined, “It was like she made her mind up before she even saw me.” He looked up at Bruce, pouting cutely, “You think it’s my hair? You think she thinks I’m a punk coz my hair’s green and I’m going to be a bad influence on the baby?”

Bruce bit his lip, let out a soft sigh, sitting down on the bed next to him. “I think it’s more likely the law breaking and murder that she thinks will be a bad influence.”

John let out a whine, “But that was years ago, and it was only attempted murder, can’t people learn to move on?”

Bruce smiled softly, reaching his hand over to squeeze John’s knee, “It’s not easy for some people.”

“Maybe I should call Joan..?” John said to himself, “I could ask her to talk me up to her?”

“I’m sure she’s done a lot of talking you up, some people are stubborn and will hold a grudge.”

John rolled his eyes, “Really, I had no idea.” He let out a soft breath, turning on the bed to look up at Bruce. “I want her to like me. If I’m in this kids life then I’m going to be seeing her a lot, and who knows what kind of poison she’s gunna be whispering into his ear. She’ll have him thinking I’m a bad person.”

“You’ll show them through your actions that you’re not a bad person,” Bruce said to comfort him.

John huffed, “No, I’m serious Bruce, I don’t say this often but please take this seriously. What if he comes over to stay the night and he’s all upset coz he thinks I’m going to kill him in his sleep.”

Bruce frowned and leant down to press a kiss onto John’s lips. “That won’t happen, John. That boy is going to love you, you’re his big brother. Joan loves you and trusts you, her child is going to too.”

“Thanks Bruce,” John mumbled, glancing away, “You always make me feel better.”

Bruce moved his hand to intertwine their fingers, “Yeah, I do try pretty hard.” He squeezed John’s hand softly, a soft smile on his face, “You still want to call her don’t you?”

John nodded sadly, “Yeah, I do…”

“Ok,” Bruce said, sitting back up, “You can call her if you think you need to.”

“I think I do,” John whined.

Bruce nodded in acceptance, letting out a gentle chuckle, “Ok, you do that. I’m going to get changed.”

John nodded, sitting up on the bed, he took out his phone and dialled Joan’s number.

Bruce got to his feet and began to undress, turning his head as he heard John huff.

“She’s not answering,” John whined loudly, letting out a weak fake sob, kicking his legs out on the bed.

“It is late, her phone’s probably on silent,” Bruce suggested.

“Her sister’s probably told her not to answer because she thinks I’m a terrible person.”

Bruce huffed, throwing his shirt at him. “Stop thinking like that.”

John threw the shirt back at him. “You know it’s a good thing she didn’t pick up, I’d be too distracted by your _rippling_ abs to get a sentence out straight.”

Bruce let out a chuckle, “It’s not my fault I’m irresistible.”

John scoffed, “Yes it is, I know your workout schedule.” He let out a soft chuckle, lifting his hands and making grabbing motions, “Come here, hotstuff, help me take my mind off my terrible problems.”

“I thought you said you were exhausted?” Bruce smirked.

“I am,” John nodded, “Which is why you’re going to be doing all the work.”

Bruce looked him up and down, taking a step towards the bed, his hands on his hips, “Really?”

“Yeah,” John nodded again, a soft blush coming to his face, “I mean I’ve been thinking,” he glanced away, his voice lowering a little, “Whenever we try anything it’s always… y’know… me on the receiving end. I thought perhaps if we try it the other way I might not get so overwhelmed.”

Bruce nodded slowly, “That’s a good idea,” he smiled softly, “I’m certainly up for trying. But uh,” he looked John up and down, “Are you sure you want to do it tonight? You’ve had a long day.”

“I’m sure,” John nodded, “It’ll certainly make me feel better.”

Bruce nodded slowly, “Ok, I see what’s happening here. John…” he reached out to take John’s hand, lowering himself to sit on the bed. He thought for a moment about how to approach the subject. He knew exactly what John was doing here. He’d been rejected and upset by Joan’s sister and now wanted to push himself as a way to hurt and punish himself.

He leaned in again to kiss John softly, “I love you, John. But I don’t want you to push yourself. I don’t know if this would be the best way to end today.”

“It’s how I want to end it,” John said sternly, the expression on his face hardening.

“But you’re tired,” Bruce said, a frown coming to his face.

“Not that tired.”

“Well I’m tired.” Bruce heard his voice turn louder and harsher, he cleared his throat, glancing away. “I won’t let you use me to work out your problems. I told you I don’t want to hurt you, and that means I won’t let you use me to hurt yourself either.”

“I’m…” John began to protest, as he began to speak his face softened again, his eyes closing and a weak laugh of defeat leaving him. “You’re too nice for your own good, Brucie.” His eyes opened again, a smile coming to his lips again, “You’re the whole package; hot as hell _and_ caring.”

Bruce nodded. He moved up the bed to lay down next to John, pulling a blanket over them.

“I’m going to have trouble sleeping,” John mumbled. “I’m too stressed about this Sophie thing.”

“Then why don’t we put on the tv?” Bruce suggested, “We can put on a rom-com or two, and sleep in late tomorrow morning.”

“And then I’ll call Joan again.”

“Yeah,” Bruce nodded, “Then you can call Joan again.”

**Author's Note:**

> get ready for me to say I'll write more of this and then never deliver.


End file.
